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M 


THE 


Economy  of  High  Wages 


AN  INQUIRY  INTO  THE  CAUSE  OF  HIGH  WAGES  AND  THEIR 
EFFECT  ON  METHODS  AND  COST  OF  PRODUCTION 


J.    SCHOENHO£ 

late  u.  s.  consul ;  commissioned  bt  dbpt.  of  state  to  inquire  into 
the  economy  of  production  and  the  state  of  technical 
education   in  europe  ;   author   of   "the   destructive 
influence   of   the  tariff";    "the  industrial 
situation;"  "wages  and  trade";  "in- 
dustrial EDUCATION  IN   FRANCE," 
ETC.,  ETC. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY 

THOMAS   F.    BAYARD 

I,ATE    SECRETARY     OF    STATE.     U.  S.  A. 


G.   P.   PUTNAM'S    SONS 

NEW   TORK  LONDON 

27  WEST  TWBNTT-THIRD  STREET  24  BEDFORD   STREET,  STRAND 

S^t  ^nithcrbotiui  ^mn 
1892 


SB4 


COPTRIGHT,    1893, 

By  J.  SCHOENHOF. 


INTRODUCTORY    LETTER 

FROM   HON.   T.    R   BAYARD, 

Late  Secretary  of  State,   U.  8.  A. 


Wilmington,  Del.,  June  10,  1892. 

Jacob  Schoenhof,  Esq.,  New  York. 

My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  gratified  to  learn  that  you  are  now 
]jrepared  to  lay  before  the  country,  in  a  compendious  form, 
the  results  of  the  personal  examination  and  intelligent 
study  which,  under  instructions  of  the  Department  of  State 
in  1887,  you  prosecuted  in  those  industrial  centres  of 
Europe  where  technical  education  had  been  most  highly 
developed  and  had  proved  itself  to  be  productive  of  the 
highest  economy  and  best  results. 

Impressed  by  a  necessity  of  a  practical  and  thorough 
comprehension  by  our  countrymen  of  the  actual  condition 
of  their  foreign  competitors  in  the  arts  and  manufactures, 
to  the  end  that  their  energies  and  intelligence  could  be 
successfully  applied  to  keep  them  abreast  of  the  world's 
column  of  artificers  in  the  progress  of  science  and  inven- 
tion, I  considered  it  fortunate  for  the  public  that  I  was 


iy.  INTRODUCTORY  LETTER. 

enabled  to  command  your  especial  faculties  in  the  execu- 
tion of  the  task. 

My  only  regret  has  been  caused  by  the  arrestation  of 
your  work,  pending  its  satisfactory  completion,  by  your 
removal  from  your  position  in  the  Consular  service  and 
the  consequent  subtraction  of  that  support  and  further- 
ance which  your  ofi&cial  association  afforded. 

I  had  indulged  the  hope  that  the  non-partisan  nature  of 
your  employment,  and  the  signal  ability  you  had  displayed 
in  the  execution  of  your  Consular  duties,  would  have  con- 
stituted a  protection  to  the  public  interests,  and  have 
shielded  you  from  the  desiccating  blasts  of  "  the  spoils 
system." 

Nevertheless,  I  congratulate  you  upon  the  result  of  your 
labors  as  now  presented  to  the  country,  and  which  I  cannot 
doubt  will  prove  of  great  value  in  the  campaign  of  educa- 
tion in  political  economy  now  happily  in  progress  in  the 
United  States. 

The  scope  and  purpose  of  your  investigations  were  not 
limited  to  reporting  mere  processes  of  manufacture  and  the 
bare  statistics  of  the  hours  of  labor,  rates  of  wages,  cost  of 
machinery,  of  raw  materials,  utilization  of  wastes,  etc.,  etc. 

Such  information,  however  interesting  and  valuable,  was 
not  wholly  wanting,  nor  was  it  difficult  to  obtain.  Your 
purpose  was  even  more  important,  and  its  results  were  to 


INTRODUCTORY  LETTER.  V 

contain  a  higher  significance,  which  was  to  indicate  and 
establish  the  power  of  education  of  the  hurmin  hand  and 
brain,  and  the  application  of  sense  and  feeling  in  the  expan- 
sion and  improvement  of  the  products  of  human  industry  ; 
to  show  how  "  tiae  sweat  of  the  brow  is  lessened  by  the 
conception  of  the  brain,"  and  increased  wages  accompany 
increased  efficiency. 

The  proofs  contained  in  the  reports  of  your  investiga- 
tions, go  far  to  refute  the  shallow  and  repulsive  theory  that 
a  human  being  is  a  mere  machine — and  to  prove  that,  on 
the  contrary,  true  economy  and  philosophy  join  in  declar- 
ing that  the  cheapest  labor  is  the  labor  that  is  most 
productive,  and  that  the  more  the  forces  of  cultivated 
intelligence,  conscientiousness,  and  hopefulness  shall  infuse 
themselves  into  human  industry,  the  more  abundant  and 
valuable  the  results,  the  greater  the  sum  of  human  hap- 
piness, and  the  more  stable  the  political  institutions  of  a 
country. 

No  sophistry  is  more  demonstrable  than  that  contained 
in  the  phrase  "the  labor  market,"  a  phrase  which  grates 
upon  the  ear  and  offends  the  moral  sense — ^for  it  seems  to 
classify  men  with  machinery,  and  fails  to  take  into  account 
human  impulses  and  feeling,  the  heart  and  brain  in  their 
effect  upon  the  energy  and  excellence  of  human  industry. 

When  Turner,  the  artist,  was  asked  with  what  he  mixed 


yi  INTRODUCTORY  LETTER. 

his  colors,  lie  growled  out,  "  Brains  " — and  there  is  not  a 
department  of  human  labor,  however  mechanical,  in  which 
the  enlistment  of  the  brain,  and  with  it  the  heart  of  the 
laborer,  is  not  in  a  degree  and  way  of  its  own  of  practical 
importance. 

Amid  the  elements  of  the  cost  of  production,  labor  is 
ever  present  and  essential,  and  consequently  in  the  fierce 
and  strenuous  competition  of  the  industrial  world  the  true 
economy  in  labor,  its  quality  as  well  as  quantity,  is  the  question 
of  controlling  importance. 

Before  the  item  of  profit  can  arise,  the  cost  of  the  various 
elements  combined  in  any  product  must  be  first  deducted. 

Wages,  taxes,  rent,  insurance,  interest,  capital,  material, 
waste  are  among  these  items,  and  labor  is  the  ever-present 
and  essential  integer  which  imparts  vitality  to  the  whole. 

An  increase  of  any  of  these  items  trenches  upon  labor, 
and  true  wisdom  instructs  that  labor  is  entitled  to  the  chief 
consideration  and  outranks  all  the  others  in  its  importance. 

The  facts  you  have  adduced  and  your  deductions  irre- 
sistibly establish  the  proposition  that  low  wages  do  not 
mean  cheap  production,  and  that  the  best  instructed  and 
best  paid  labor  proves  itself  to  be  the  most  productive — 
so  that  the  rate  of  wages  and  the  cost  of  production  are 
not  alternative  nor  equivalent  expressions,  although  so 
frequently  and  ignorantly  confused. 


INTRODUOTORT  LETTER.  vii 

As  the  efficiency  of  labor  is  increased,  prices  will  be 
lessened,  and  this  creates  new  demands,  so  that  successful 
,and  progressive  industry  implies  a  necessity  for  wider 
markets,  and  a  minimum  of  artificial  restriction  upon  ex- 
changes in  the  commercial  world. 

Mechanical  excellence  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  technical 
education,  and  the  command  of  every  market  follows  the 
workman  who  can  produce  what  is  best  and  at  the  lowest 
cost. 

Skill  is  the  outgrowth  of  educated  senses,  and  the  superi- 
ority of  labor  consists  in  the  degree  in  which  mind  aids 
muscle  in  its  tasks — hence  the  discrimination  in  the  re- 
wards between  "skilled"  and  "unskilled"  labor. 

The  information  afforded  by  your  studies  as  now  re- 
ported, cannot  fail  to  prove  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
just  and  rational  solution  of  the  great  labor  problem  of  the 
present  day,  and  will  assist  alike  employers  and  employed. 

I  hail  with  satisfaction  everything  that  tends  to  emanci- 
pate labor  from  the  control,  or  as  it  is  delusively  styled,  the 
"protection"  of  the  State,  and  demonstrates  the  essential 
truth  that  excellence  in  skill  and  labor  comes  from  each 
member  individually,  and  not  from  an  aggregate  of  mem- 
bers in  which  individual  excellence  is  not  recognized  nor 
respected. 

Nothing  surely  can  be  more  unreasonable,  unjust,  and 


viii  INTBODUCTORT  LETTER. 

delusive  than  the  view  or  sclieme  of  regulating  the  rewards 
of  labor  which  excludes  the  value  of  individual  intelli- 
gence, industry,  skill,  and  the  attendant  moral  force  which 
are  combined  by  the  law  of  their  creation  with  the  labor  of 
mankind. 

There  is  gratifying  evidence  of  growing  recognition  of 
the  needs  and  just  claims  of  labor  in  such  institutions  as 
the  Metropolitan  Museum  in  New  York,  which  is  a  great 
public  adjutant  as  a  school  of  design  ;  a  well-spring  of  edu- 
cation of  the  ea4*ning  capacities  of  manual  labor,  serving  as 
a  model  for  imitation  as  well  as  technical  and  practical 
instruction. 

Akin  to  it  in  usefulness  and  beneficent  purpose  is  the 
Drexel  Institute  of  Art,  Science,  and  Industry  in  Philadel- 
phia— another  splendid  illustration  of  well-considered  indi- 
vidual generosity  and  wise  public  spirit 

And  thus  in  the  education  of  the  faculties  for  special 
results,  general  results  must  also  be  achieved  in  the  expan- 
sion of  their  faculties  and  elevation  of  mankind. 

Technical  education,  by  means  of  which  taste  is  culti- 
vated and  skill  acquired,  will  greatly  promote  that  healthy 
and  self-reliant  independence  so  desirable  for  a  nation. 

It  is  by  such  means  that  the  true  elevation  of  the  indus- 
trial classes  will  be  attained,  and  that  relations  of  mutual 
confidence  and  good  understanding  between  employers  and 


INTRODUOTORT  LETTER.  ix 

employed,  will  be  establislied.  It  will,  in  fact,  be  a  resort 
to  "the  golden  rale,"  productive  only  of  benignity,  and 
which  will  be  found  the  most  reliable  means  of  exorcising 
from  modern  civilization  its  worst  spectre — the  antagonism 
of  capital  and  labor. 

I  hope  your  work  may  hasten  on  the  day  when  the  hon- 
est individual  may  be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  calm  content 
of  constant  industry  and  the  advantages  of  his  own  labor, 
free  alike  from  the  tyranny  of  numbers  in  his  own  class  or 
of  that  other  class  "of  prosperous  plunderers  who  live  in 
abundance  surrounded  by  the  victims  of  their  injustice  and 
rapacity." 

You  have  certainly  erected  a  modest  porch  to  the  great 
edifice  of  sound  sociology,  and  performed  a  service  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States. 

I  am. 

Very  truly  yours, 

T.  F.  Bayard. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


Introductory  Letter  from  Hon.  T.  F.  Bayard,  late  Secretary  of  State, 

U.  S.  A iii 

PAET  I. 

The  Cause  of  High  Wages. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  Economy  of  Production  and  the  Tariff  interwoven 1 

The  Relative  Positions  of  Producers 4 

The  Tariff  Reform  Issue 5 

In  what  Foreign  Tariffs  are  Distinct  from  American  Tariffs 8 

Wage  Differences  in  Protected  and  Unprotected  Industries 10 

The  McKinley  Act  a  Monument  of  Legislative  Ignorance 11 

The  Raw  Material  in  Production  13 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Labor  Question  in  the  Tariff    18 

The  Fallacy  of  the  Old  Theory  of  Wages 19 

Relative  Productiveness  of  Labor 20 

Differences  in  Coal  Mining 22 

Increase  of  Earnings  and  Reduced  Cost  going  Hand  in  Hand 24 

The  Same  Labor  Differences  in  Higher  Products 25 

Maintaining  Power  of  Labor 28 

What  Causes  High  Wages 31 

CHAPTER   III. 

Low  Wages,  Stagnating  Causes. — Improvement  in  Machinery  more 

Profitable  in  High-Wage  Countries 35 

A  High  Standard  a  Prerequisite  to  Improvement 38 

Low  Wages  Indicate  Low  Productivity 39 

Irish  Industries  as  Object  Lessons 41 

Working  for  a  Home  Market 44 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PAGE 

Advantages  of  Old  Methods  in  Certain  Industries 50 

How  These  Low  Wage-E]amers  Live 51 

How  they  Work  in  Lyons 53 

Economic  Advantages  of  the  Old  System. — Capital  left  Free 55 

The  Evolution  of  Industries 58 

The  Producer  and  Consumer  are  One. — Increasing  Productiveness  is 

Increasing  Consumptiveness 61 

The  Economic  Value  of  High  Wages  generally  not  Understood 63 

CHAPTER  V, 

The  Efficiency  and  Productiveness  of  Labor  increased  by  Education.  67 

Cheap  Labor  and  Ignorant  LQ,bor  Synonymous 67 

The  Ideal  Part  in  the  Economy  of  Production 69 

Teaching  Industrial  Art 73 

The  Industrial  Art  Museum 74 

Antique  and  Modern  Art  Industry 76 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Science  and  Art  Powerful  Factors  in  the  Economy  of  Production. ...  81 

Superiority  of  English  Work 83 

Helps  in  Technical  Training 84 

American  Chemists  Lagging  behind 88 

Scientific  Improvements  quickly  adopted 89 

CHAPTER  VIL 

Improvements  ami  Inventions 91 

Powerful  Influence  in  Metallurgy 92 

Steel  Rails 93 

Price  Reductions  in  Other  Forms  of  Iron 95 

Other  Illustrations  of  Superior  American  Methods 97 

The  Steamship  an   Illustration  of  Modern  Development. — Science 

applied  to  Industry 103 

CHAPTER  VIIT. 

Proof  of  Principles  laid  down  taken  from  Agriculture. — Results  of 

Scientific  Methods 108 

Ignorance  the  Cause  of  Poverty 109 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

Difference  in  Results  Traceable  to  Institutions Ill 

Modern  Russian  Agriculture  on  a  Thirteenth  Century  Level  of  Eng- 
land   115 

High  Results  of  Ownership  by  the  Tiller  under  Free  Laws 119 

General  Farming  Results  in  Europe  Confirmatory  of  the  Principle . .  132 

Causes  of  Lombardy's  Superior  Agriculture 1 25 

The  Contrasts  and  their  Causes 130 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Security  from  Famine  guaranteed  by  Civilization.  — Auxiliary  Advan- 
tages by  Improved  Means  of  Communication 134 

Truck  Farming,  a  Creation  of  the  Railroad  and  the  Steamboat 136 

The  Richer  Lands  give  the  Poorer  Crops 138 

Poor  Results  and  High  Results  due  only  to  Poor  or  Good  Farming. .  188 

A  Practical  Illustration  of  Results  of  Best  Methods 144 

Extent  of  Land  required  under  Different  Methods  of  Cultivation ....  150 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Condition  of  the  Workingman  under  the  Old  and  the  New  Dis- 
pensation   153 

The  Standard  of  Living  under  the  Best  of  Old  Conditions 154 

The  Measure  of  Progress  expressed  by  the  Budget  of  Consumables  . .  160 

Comparison  of  Budgets 163 

The  German  Workingman's  Basis  of  Living  now,  on  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish a  Hundred  Years  Ago 167 


PART  11. 

The  Effect  of  High  Wages. 

Comparative  Methods  and  Cost  of  Production  in  America  and  European 

Countries. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Unreliability  of  Statements  of  Protected  Interests. — The  Potter's 

Industry  in  Evidence 175 

The  Industry  in  America  and  England 176 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Assertions  of  the  Trenton  Potters 179 

Inefficiency  attracted  by  a  High  Tariff 184 

Labor-saving  Appliances  in  Pottery 186 

Sanitary  Ware   188 

Brown  Stoneware 190 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Trust  and  Monopolies  alone  benefited  by  Tariff  Legislation. — 

The  Glass  Industry  in  Evidence 194 

Flint  Glass,  Table  Ware,  Hollow  Ware,  etc 195 

Mode  of  Pay  and  Comparative  Rates  in  England  and  America 196 

English  Rates 198 

Cut  Glass,  Decorated  and  Fancy  Ware 202 

Window  Glass 204 

Plate  Glass 205 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Insincerity  of  the  Claim  for  Protection  of  Labor. — Demonstrated 
by  a  Comparison  of  the  Cost  of  Coal  and  Iron  Mining,  here  and 

abroad 208 

America's  and  England's  Position 212 

Iron  Ore 213 

Coke  and  Pig-iron 215 

Steel  Rail  Making 218 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Injury  of  Protection  to  Industry. — The  Advantages  America 
reaps  from  Superior  Methods  and  Low  Labor  Cost  frustrated  by 

Protection 222 

Manufacturers'  Tools  and  Machinery 224 

Cutlery 228 

Arms,  Ammunition,  Machinery 229 

Europe's  Methods  Different 231 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Textile  Industries. — Labor's  Higher  Reward  in  America  Due 
entirely  to  Greater  Exertion. — Greater  Output  and  Lower  Labor 
Cost  in  Cotton  Manufacture.— The  Tariff  Increases  Profit  Rates 
but  Reduces  Wages.— Print  Cloth  in  Evidence 234 


CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE 

Relative  Positions  of  England  and  America 236 

Print  Cloth.— The  Comparative  Cost  and  Rate  of  Wages 237 

Republican  Contradiction 242 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Ability  to  Satisfy  the  Taste  of  Buyers  Determines  the  Course  of 
Trade. — Cotton  Goods,  Printing,  Finishing. — Our  Importations 
Caused  by  Inability  of  Home  Producer  to  Answer  the  Wants  of 

the  People. — New  Departure  in  Tariff  Legislation 246 

Cotton  Velvets 250 

Cotton  Hosiery 255 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Futility  of  attempting  Industrial  Creations  by  Protective  Tariffs. — 
Flax  Cultivation  and  Linen  Manufacturing. — Cotton  Embroid- 
eries and  Laces  classed  under  Linen  for  Tariff  Increase. — Reasons 

why  they  cannot  be  produced  here 258 

Linen  Manufacturers 262 

Cotton  Embroidery,  Cotton  Lace 264 

Embroidered  and  Hemstitched  Handkerchiefs 267 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Science  and  Skill  in  Manufacturing  Industries. — Silk  Manufactur- 
ing.— Lyons  and  Paterson  compared. — Superiority  of  Lyons 
Goods. — Lower  Cost  Due  to  Other  Causes  than  Differences  in 

Labor 269 

Loading  of  Silks 273 

Comparative  Cost  of  Spinning 275 

The  Dyeing  of  Silk 277 

Weaving 278 

General  Conditions  of  Silk  Manufacturing  in  America 281 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Silk  Plushes. — Increased  Duties  to  Foster  Non-existing  Industries.^-:— 
Marked  Decline  in  Silk  Manufacturing  in  General. — Tariffs  can- 
not Supply  the  Absence  of  Skill  and  Knowledge 283 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

Wool  and  Woolens. — Protection  frustrated  by  its  own  Excesses. — 
Wool  artificially  Dear  Limits  Consumption. — Decrease  of  Sheep. 
— Increase  in  England. — Decline  in  Wool  Manufacturing  Trace- 
able to  the  Tariff. — Great  Increase  in  the  Use  of  Wool  Sub- 
stitutes    294 

The  Wool 295 

American  Wool    298 

Other  Disastrous  Effects  of  a  Wool  Tariff 301 

Decline  in  Wool— Increase  in  Shoddy 307 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Woolens  and  Worsteds. — Methods  pursued  in  Comparative  Inquiry. .  310 

Worsteds  and  Combed- Yarn  Goods 313 

The  Labor 314 

The  Yam 318 

Italian  Cloths 323 

Mohair  and  Other  Combed-Wool  Dress  Goods 325 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Carded- Wool  Goods. — Labor  not  Higher  than  in  England 328 

Dress  Goods 329 

Answering  by  "  If  " 333 

The  Proof  is  in  the  Selling  Price 337 

All- Wool  Kersey  Cloth 338 

6-4  Cheviots 340 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Plushes,  Pile  Fabrics,  Knit  Goods  classed  with  Clothing  for  Duty 

Increase 342 

Knit  Fabrics 345 

Carpets 348 

Summary  of  Comparative  Cost  in  Woolens  and  Worsteds. — What  is 
the  Cost  Difference  under  Free  Wool 351 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Making-up  Industries. — Industries  protected,  but  not  by  Tariffs.  356 

The  Manufacturing  System  of  Berlin 361 

The  Sweating  System 363 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER   XV. 

PAGE 

Improved  Methods  and  Division  of  Labor. — Labor  in  Ready-made 
Goods    here    and    abroad. — Great    Export    Articles. — Foreign 

Commerce  restricted  by  the  Tariff 370 

Boots  and  Shoes 373 

The  Foreign  Trade  Aspect 375 

Reciprocity  Treaties 379 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Tariff  in  its  Relations  to  the  Industrial  Problem. — Comparative 
Labor  Cost  in  Principal  Industries  in  America  and  England. — 
High  Wages  and  Reduced  Hours  resulting  from  Improvement 

in  Economy  of  Production 383 

The  Cost  of  Production , 385 

Economic  and  Sociological  Deductions 390 

The  Cotton  Industry,  an  Illustration 395 

The  Cause  of  Progress  and  Prosperity 401 

Addenda 406 

Index 409 

2 


P^RT    I. 

THE  CAUSE  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


Eine  einzige  Thatsache  vermag  die  Systeme  ganzer  Jahrhunderte  fiber 
den  Haufen  zu  werfen  und  ganze  Bibliotheken  in  Makulatur  zu  ver- 
wandeln.  Gegen  die  Thatsachen  hilft  kein  StrSuben  und  Protestiren. — 
Frauenst&dt. 

A  single  fact  is  able  to  upset  the  systems  of  centuries  and  to  turn 
whole  libraries  into  waste  paper.  Neither  resisting  nor  protesting  avails 
against  facts. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  Economy  of  Production  and  the  Tariff  interwoven. — Impossibility 
to  treat  the  One  without  a  Thorough  Understanding  of  the  Ele- 
ments of  Production. — The  Difference  of  Tariffs  here  and  abroad. — 
The  Raw  Material,  the  Natural  Starting-point  in  Production.— The 
Inherent  Differences  to  be  considered. 


The  protective  theory  starts  from  the  assumption  that 
an  act  of  legislation  can  equalize  the  differences  which  eco- 
nomically considered  exist  between  one  country  and  another 
in  the  ability  of  producing  whatever  is  not  absolutely  with- 
held by  nature.  As  within  this  wide  limit  there  is  very 
little  which  cannot  be  called  into  being  in  the  range  of 
products  consumed  by  the  people,  provided  the  differences 
in  cost  can  be  balanced  by  enabling  the  home  producer  to 
charge  the  difference  on  the  consumer,  there  can  be  very 
little  difficulty  to  understand  the  genesis  of  protection. 
The  taxing  power  of  nations  has  not  been  loath  to  avail 
itself  of  the  advantages  which  this  dogma  offered.  By  per- 
suading the  workingman  that  he  could  find  more  remunera- 
tive employment  he  was  made  an  easy  proselyte,  wherever 
he  had  anything  to  say  in  the  selection  of  his  rulers,  to  the 
policy  of  excluding  foreign  products  by  tariff  taxation, 
which  might  interfere  with  the  sale  of  the  products  of  his 
own  industry.     The  manufacturer,  of  course,  would  be  the 

1 


2  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

stanchest  advocate  of  the  policy,  as  he  could  collect  all  the 
profits  from  the  consumer  which  lie  between  his  enhanced  cost 
of  production  and  the  price  he  could  realize  from  the  sale  of 
his  goods.  It  was  his  interest,  therefore,  at  all  times  to  have 
this  margin  as  big  as  possible.  He  did  this  very  effectively, 
as  is  known  to  all  generations  of  tariff-afflicted  peoples,  by 
getting  the  legislators  to  keep  raising  the  duties  to  heights 
as  demanded  by  every  interest.  Many  things,  however, 
have  escaped  notice,  which,  had  they  received  due  weight, 
would  have  tipped  the  balance  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Taxation  of  foreign  imports  for  revenue,  selects  only 
such  articles  as  dutiable  which  will  not  interfere  with  home 
production.  Articles  of  luxury  or  of  immediate  consiimp- 
tion — not  requiring  a  process  of  remanufacture — are  fit 
objects  of  such  taxation.  Taxation  for  protection,  necessarily 
must  gradually  extend  over  all  articles  which  go  into  every 
species  of  remanufacture.  Every  one  concerned  in  the  pro- 
duction of  consumables  will  consider  himself  injured  unless 
he  gets  his  share  allotted  in  the  enterprise  of  creating  universal 
prosperity  by  universal  taxation.  Taxation  for  protection, 
therefore,  covers  the  raw  material  of  the  fabric  as  well  as  of 
the  worker,  the  sustenance  on  which  he  must  feed  to  keep 
up  his  tissue.  It  covers  every  advance  in  the  scale  of  pro- 
gression. Every  new  feature  in  the  metamorphosis  of  pro- 
duction is  made  a  subject  of  additional  caretaking  by  taxa- 
tion. Finally,  by  this  inflating  process  constantly  going 
on,  the  cost  of  production  is  increased  so  that  protectionism 
would  become  extinct  more  by  the  curses  of  its  beneficiaries 
than  by  the  kicks  of  its  enemies,  were  the  former  as  enlight- 
ened as  one  might  expect  the  producers  to  be  on  the  econo- 
mies of  their  own  crafts  and  trades.  Another  cause  of  dis- 
tress to  the  protected,  growing  out  of  protection,  is  in  the 
attraction  of  capital  and  enterprise  to  these  artificially  fos- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  3 

tered  industries  by  wliicli  the  very  reverse  of  the  early  ben- 
efits frequently  follow  to  those  who  embark  with  hardly  any 
other  qualification  than  the  possession  of  capital. 

The  pressure  which  the  unusually  keen  competition  fol- 
io vying  therefrom  exercises  on  prices  cannot  be  alleviated 
by  relief  which  foreign  markets  would  give.  The  inflated 
cost  of  materials,  though  labor  and  capital  become  alike 
depressed  in  the  struggle  for  survival  by  a  merciless  compe- 
tition, would  prevent  this,  if  all  other  things  were  equal. 
The  difficulties  interposed  by  protection  to  the  normal 
growth  and  expansion  of  industries  are  increased  when 
further  abnormities  have  been  introduced  which  make  it 
doubtful  by  what  name  to  call  a  system  of  fiscal  taxation 
such  as  encumbers  the  statute  books  of  the  United  States. 
It  has  been  doubtful  at  all  times,  from  1870  on,  whether  to 
call  it  a  system  of  protection,  obstruction,  or  destruction. 
It  may  be  said  to  be  one  thing  or  the  other  as  the  parties 
concerned  are  affected  by  such  a  system  of  hybrid  legisla- 
tion. When  the  so-called  Morrill  tariff — the  war  tariff — 
was  enacted,  the  terms  were  moderate  compared  to  what 
they  have  become  since  by  successive  layers.  The  later 
increases,  required  by  the  exigencies  of  the  war,  in  1865 
and  1867  were  found  necessary,  in  part  at  least,  as  offsets 
against  the  newly  introduced  system  of  internal  revenue 
taxation,  which  taxed  home  products  specifically,  besides 
taxing  the  manufacturer  on  his  sales,  the  banker  and  the 
merchant  on  their  turnover,  and  then  the  net  incomes  of  all 
concerned  over  again.  All  these  internal  rates  have  long 
ago  become  extinct,  and  nothing  remains  of  the  whole  sys- 
tem, except  those  on  intoxicating  liquors,  beer,  and  cigars, 
which  are  properly  called  excise  duties  and  do  not  bear  on 
the  subject  of  discussion  except  in  a  very  remote  way. 

The   tariff  on  foreign   imports,  however,  has   not  been 


4  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

reduced.  We  cannot  call  the  tariff  act  of  1883  a  reduction. 
In  all  its  essential  features  it  was  as  burdensome  as  that  of 
1867 ;  in  one  sense  greatly  more  so,  inasmuch  as  the  de- 
cline in  prices  of  almost  all  commodities  since  1867  had 
thrown  out  of  proportion  the  relations  of  the  specific  duties 
to  the  prices  of  the  articles  on  which  they  were  imposed.* 
Hence  the  tariff  of  1883  weighed  more  heavily  upon  the 
people  as  consumers  and  producers  than  that  of  1867,  which 
was  strictly  a  war  measure. 

The  Relative  Positions  of  Producers. 

It  is  evident,  confining  ourselves  more  strictly  to  the 
concrete  question  as  it  presents  itself  in  the  United  States, 
that  the  industrial  interests  would  long  have  rebelled  against 
this  war  tariff  and  its  further  excrescences  had  they  not 
been  held  in  check  by  fears  and  threats.  The  latter  were 
more  powerful  than  they  would  have  been  had  they  been 
met  by  a  more  thorough  understanding  of  the  principles 
which  govern  the  economy  of  production  than  is  the  case 
among  so  intelligent  a  people  as  the  producing  classes  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  manufacturers.  The  latter 
soon  found  out  that  the  taxing  of  raw  material  for  protec- 
tion's sake  practically  confiscated  the  advantages  given  by 

*  In  illustration  I  will  refer  to  the  price  of  raw  wool.  In  1867  the  price 
of  greasy  Australian  was  12id.  (25  cents  gold)  London  price.  The  duty 
was  11  cents  a  pound  and  10  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  equal  to  54  per  cent. 
The  same  wool  is  now  quoted  at  8d.  or  16  cents  a  pound,  and  was  a  few 
months  previous  to  this  writing  as  low  as  7^d.  or  14^  cents.  Specific  duty  of 
11  cents  makes  the  ad  valorem  percentage  to  come  to  70  to  75  per  cent. — 
so  that,  even  without  the  10  per  cent,  ad  valorem  of  the  old  tariff  taken 
off  (changed  in  1883  to  a  net  rate  of  10  cents  per  pound),  the  new  tariff 
taxes  wool  one-third  more  than  the  extremest  war  tariff  rates  have  been. 
The  specific  rate  of  11  cents  in  1867  equalled  44  per  cent.;  in  1893  it 
equals  70  to  75  per  cent. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  5 

protection  to  their  respective  industries.  A  large  class  of 
them,  chiefly  among  those  whose  products  had  exceeded 
the  limited  markets  to  which  they  were  confined  thereby, 
made  protestations.  As  early  as  1882  they  organized,  and 
later  took  more  decided  action  asking  for  radical  reform  of 
the  tariff  on  the  basis  of  free  raw  materials.  In  1884  they 
sent  the  writer  a  representative  to  Chicago  to  urge  the 
adoption  by  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  their 
views,  contained  in  the  following  resolutions: 

"First — The  abolition  of  all  duties  on  raw  materials,  such  ^s  wool, 
iron,  and  other  ores,  coal,  jute,  hemp,  flax,  dye  stuffs,  etc.,  in  order  that 
we  may  compete  in  home  and  foreign  markets  with  other  manufacturing 
nations,  not  one  of  which  taxes  raw  materials. 

"Second — The  adjustment  of  the  tariff,  so  that  manufactures  approach- 
ing nearest  to  the  crude  state  will  pay  a  lower  rate,  and  manufactures  that 
are  further  advanced,  requiring  more  skill  and  labor,  will  pay  a  higher 
rate  of  duties." 

The  convention  adopted  these  views,  and  they  form  now 
the  credo  of  that  party. 

At  first  sight  it  may  seem  unjust  to  free  the  products  of 
the  farm  or  the  mine  and  to  protect  the  products  of  the  mill. 
I  admit  the  stricture  to  be  correct.  I  consider  all  protective 
taxes  injurious  to  that  extent  that  they  increase  the  cost  of 
production.  I  consider  them  superfluous,  as  the  economy 
of  production  in  the  United  States  clearly  shows.  It  is  the 
object  of  these  pages  to  show  that  production  is  conducted 
on  so  essentially  different  a  basis  in  the  United  States  than 
in  other  countries  that  all  the  arguments  hitherto  employed 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  protective  principle  become  more 
than  hypothetical.  But  no  matter  what  the  demonstrations, 
though  they  be  based  on  the  most  reliable  facts  obtainable 
by  personal  investigations,  the  practical  conditions  are  that 
the  fiscal  laws  of  the  country  cannot  be  changed  at  will. 


^  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOU  WAGES. 

Accustomed  methods  of  raising  revenue  must  be  followed. 
Whatever  the  opinion  of  the  most  radical  reformer,  he  must 
take  existing  conditions,  the  bias  of  the  public  mind,  into 
very  serious  consideration.  A  tariff  on  imported  commodi- 
ties will  maintain  itself  for  some  time  to  come,  and  it  remains 
here  only  to  say  that  a  tariff  on  finished  articles  is  the  only 
possible  way  of  meeting  the  difl&culty.  To  raise  a  revenue 
and  give  relief  from  burdensome  taxation  to  the  producer 
and  the  consumer  can  only  be  done  by  cutting  away  some- 
where. Leaving  the  raw  material  taxed  and  taking  off  the 
duties  from  manufactures  would  be  too  absurd  even  for 
mention.  A  child  could  see  that  it  would  shut  up  every 
workshop  and  mill.  The  producer  of  the  raw  material 
would  not  need  to  concern  himself  further  about  the  advan- 
tages of  his  special  protection.  He  would  have  killed  the 
goose  which  lays  the  golden  eggs.  There  would  be  no  mar- 
ket whatever  for  his  protected  raw  material.  But,  on  the 
contrary,  the  best  protection  for  the  producer  of  the  raw 
material  lies  in  the  healthy  expansion  of  manufacturing 
industries — an  axiom  which,  stated  by  the  author,  has 
always  given  extreme  satisfaction  to  protectionists.  The 
only  difference  is  in  the  methods  found  necessary.  The 
writer  considers  non-interference,  his  opponents  constant 
interference,  the  best  means  to  the  great  end. 

The  natural  advantages  and  resources  are  so  great,  the 
impulses  to  exploit  them  for  individual  benefit  are  so  pow- 
erful, in  the  United  States,  that  no  matter  what  other  nations 
may  deem  necessary  in  consequence  of  a  different  historical 
development,  considerations  which  may  guide  them  do 
not  apply  here.  In  agriculture  these  differences  of  an 
economico-political  character  have  at  all  times  had  the  most 
decisive  influence.  It  can  be  demonstrated  from  the  most 
substantial  facts,  that  the  freest  institutions  give  the  great- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EIOH   WAGES.  7 

est  excess  of  products.  The  rude  system  of  agriculture  in 
America  cannot  be  classed  with  the  systems  of  the  advanced 
countries  of  Europe.  The  settlers  of  new  lands  are  not 
given  to  intensive  cultivation.  What  gives  the  quickest 
returns  to  the  labor  of  the  husbandman  is  an  extensive 
cultivation  of  comparatively  large  tracts  of  land  requiring 
little  manuring  and  preparing.  A  comparison  of  yield  per 
acre  is  therefore  inadmissible.  But  the  great  total  result  is 
that  America,  feeding  her  own  people  in  abundance,  sends 
perhaps  twenty -five  per  cent,  in  value  of  agricultural  prod- 
ucts to  make  up  the  deficiencies  of  Europe. 

A  tariff  for  protection  of  agricultural  products  in  America 
stands  therefore  much  in  the  position  of  blinding  the  farmer 
while  his  pockets  are  rifled  by  highwaymen.  The  effect  of 
a  tariff  stimulation  on  such  products  of  the  soil  which  for 
inherent  differences  have  been  previously  imported  in  more 
or  less  important  quantities,  has  always  been  an  extended 
acreage  allotted  to  the  crop,  in  the  anxiety  of  the  farmer  for 
something  "  that  will  pay."  The  consequence  of  fostering 
by  "  protection  "  has  therefore  always  been  an  oversupply 
of  undesirable  and  often  unmarketable  products  within  a 
year  or  so  of  the  enactment,  and  a  greater  distress  of  the 
farmer  than  he  had  felt  before  he  received  the  treacherous 
gift.  ^ 

It  is  plain  from  this  brief  statement  of  an  undisputable 
fact,  that  the  American  farmer  cannot  be  protected  by  pro- 
tective legislation.  All  threats  of  certain  interested  people 
would,  from  this  cause  alone,  have  been  met  with  contempt 
had  not  the  living  generation  of  industrials  been  so  filled 
with  the  protective  mania  that  their  understanding  of  con- 
ditions under  which  production  is  conducted  had  become 
obtuse.  No  wonder  that  this  condition  of  the  mind  of  the 
two  classes  of  producers,  the  agricultural  and  the  manufac- 


8  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQU   WAGES. 

turing,  has  been  considered  an  excellent  field  for  the  design- 
ing politician  to  cultivate  in  his  interest.  By  playing  one 
interest  against  another  the  Kepublican  party  has  been  able 
to  strike  fear  among  all  and  thus  make  anxious  victims  be- 
lievers in  benefits  largely  the  children  of  the  imagination. 
From  the  agriculturist's  point  of  view  the  only  remedy  for 
complaints,  he  has  had  ample  reasons  for  advancing  of  late 
years,  lies  in  the  removal  of  import  duties  of  a  protective 
character  affecting  the  price  of  his  consumables,  and  not  in 
the  imposition  of  duties  on  what  he  produces.  The  surplus 
determining  the  price  of  his  entire  product,  the  price  for  him 
is  made  on  European  exchanges,  buying  that  surplus.  Ab- 
solute free  trade  being  out  of  consideration — for  reasons 
stated — the  practical  question  remains  to  find  a  nearest  ap- 
proach, which  would  relieve  the  consumer  without  prevent- 
ing the  collecting  of  revenue  by  means  conformable  to 
ingrained  notions  of  the  people. 

There  remains  then  no  other  way  to  bring  all  these  exigen- 
cies and  seemingly  conflicting  interests  into  harmony  than  by 
such  a  policy  as  is  demanded  in  the  resolutions  referred  to 
as  the  only  practical  basis  of  tariff  reform. 

In  -what  Foreign  Tariffs  are  Distinct  from  Amer- 
ican Tariffs. 

From  the  American  manufacturer's  point  of  view — the  pro- 
tected interests  chiefly — the  only  rational  basis  of  a  tariff  is 
one  based  on  free  raw  materials.  The  fact  that  no  other 
industrial  nation,  with  whom  American  manufacturers  aim 
to  compete  in  neutral  markets,  taxes  raw  materials,  should  be 
an  object  lesson  strong  enough  for  them.  When  we  hear  of 
Germany  or  France  taxing  raw  materials  it  always  means  tax- 
ing food  supplies.    Foolish  as  this  must  appear,  raising  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  9 

(y3St  of  living,  reducing  the  standard  of  life  and  in  consequence 
reducing  the  productive  capacity  of  the  working  classes,  yet 
it  is  something  quite  mild  in  comparison  with  raising  the 
price  of  the  manufacturer's  raw  material — his  "  matiere 
premiere  "  (first  materials) — fifty  to  a  hundred  per  cent,  above 
the  cost  at  which  his  foreign  competitors  use  the  same. 

In  a  sense  the  foreign  agriculturist  stands  towards  his 
tariff  in  the  position  in  which  our  industrial  classes  stand 
towards  our  tariff.  There  the  landed  classes,  chiefly  the 
landed  proprietors,  draw  all  the  benefits  from  the  tariff,  while 
the  small  peasant,  agricultural  laborer,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
people  are  heavily  taxed  on  their  food  supplies.  To  benefit 
a  few  the  whole  nation  is  taxed  and  the  nation's  productive 
power  curtailed.  Here  in  America  agriculturists  cannot  be 
protected,  as  has  been  shown.  They  are  merely  taxed,  to 
support  an  artificial  system  in  which  make-believes  go  a  great 
way  to  make  burdens  seem  a  blessing. 

Of  course,  the  same  relates  to  all  the  occupations  which 
are  engaged  in  the  professions,  personal  services,  and  the 
distributing  trades.  The  same  relates  to  all  the  industrial 
occupations  which  cannot  possibly  be  benefited  by  a  pro- 
tective tariff:  the  building  trades,  railroad  building,  slaugh- 
tering, and  other  trades  connected  with  food  supplies,  and 
all  occupations  operating  on  non-transportable  objects.  All 
told,  there  are  barely  5  per  cent,  of  bread-earners  to  whom 
any  direct  benefit  can  be  said  to  accrue  from  the  protective 
tariff,  while  all  of  them  (even  the  5  per  cent.)  suffer  to  the 
full  extent  of  the  whole  measure  of  double  taxation,  viz.,  for 
revenue  to  the  government,  and  for  protection  to  a  favored 
few.  But  even  this  very  small  class  reduces  itself  to  a 
smaller  and  smaller  number,  the  closer  one  examines  into 
the  industrial  fabric  which  is  said  to  be  benefited.  It  is  in 
evidence  that  the  greater  the  amount  of  protection  dealt  out, 


10  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

the  lower  the  rate  of  wages;  while  the  freer  the  industry 
from  all  such  influences,  the  higher  the  rate  of  wages.*  In 
the  cotton  industry  the  daily  wages  are  not  materially  differ- 
ent from  English  wages.  If  we  take  the  greater  number  of 
looms  and  spindles  worked,  and  the  greater  number  of  weekly 

*  I  will  give  here  the  wages  paid  in  the  building  trades  and  in  cotton 
manufacturing,  as  evidence.  The  wages  for  Germany  are  taken  from  the 
wage  lists  prepared  for  regular  periodical  publication  by  the  Sociological 
Society  Concordia,  in  Mayence.  For  the  building  trades  I  take  the 
wages  for  the  Hansa  towns,  where  the  highest  rates  are  paid.  For  Eng- 
land I  take  the  wage  rates  for  Manchester,  Liverpool,  and  London  from 
the  lists  prepared  by  the  Trade  Unions'  Committee  for  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Trade  Depression.  For  America  I  take  the  rates  ruling  in 
New  York  City. 

The  wages,  reduced  to  the  hour,  compare  as  follows  : 

Germany.  England.  America. 

Cents.  Cents.  Cents. 

Bricklayers  (34.7  pfg.) 8^  16  45 

Stonemasons    8i  16  to  18  45 

Carpenters  (30  pfg.) 7*  16  30  to  35 

The  percentage  of  wages  of  England  over  Germany  is  a  round  100  per 
cent.  ;  of  America  over  England,  180  per  cent.,  and  over  Germany,  430 
per  cent,  and  330  per  cent. ,  respectively. 

In  the  cotton  goods  industry  I  take  the  wages  of  spinners  and  reduce 
them  also  to  the  hour,  so  as  to  bring  them  to  a  common  basis. 

These  wages  are  taken  from  mills  which  I  visited,  and  they  were 
given  me  by  the  parties  paying,  and  corroborated  by  those  receiving 
them. 

Rhenish  Germany        Manchester  Lowt-ii 

AND  Switzerland.        ^ianchester.  i.owell. 

Cents.  Cents.  Cents. 

Mule  spinners  (men) 5.2  to  6  14  to  17  15  to  16 

Ring  spinners  (women) 4.3  to  5.!*  6  8.4 

The  English  and  American  mule  spinners  stand  about  on  a  par,  while 
they  earn  from  165  to  200  per  cent,  more  than  Swiss  or  German  spinners. 
The  American  spinner-girl  earns  70  per  cent,  more  than  the  Swiss  or  Ger- 
man, and  40  per  cent,  more  than  the  English  girl.  But  this  is  balanced 
by  handling  eight  sides  with  960  spindles,  against  four  sides  with  576 
spindles  in  England.  The  American  spinner  gets  less  pay  per  work  than 
the  English,  Swiss,  or  German. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  H 

working  hours  into  consideration,  thej  are  decidedly  below 
the  English  rates.  In  woolens,  taking  all  the  differences 
into  consideration,  25  per  cent,  would  cover  the  higher  rate 
of  pay  which  our  working  people  can  call  their  own,  and 
even  this  is  frequently  balanced  by  a  higher  output.  In  the 
building  trades,  which  are  certainly  independent  from  all 
benefits  a  tariff  can  give,  as  houses  cannot  well  be  imported, 
the  differences  are  from  200  to  400  per  cent,  in  favor  of  the 
American  artisan.  Entirely  different  considerations  than 
tariffs  bring  about  the  higher  rate  of  wages  which  prevails 
in  this  country.  What  these  causes  are,  will  be  the  subject 
of  the  succeeding  chapters.  Here  it  can  only  briefly  be 
mentioned  that  the  wage  earner  does  not  draw  any  benefit 
from  protective  duties,  and  that  so  long  as  the  tariff  on 
raw  materials  prevails,  he,  along  with  the  employer,  is 
directly  injured  by  the  system.  The  facts  in  support  of  this 
Avill  be  brought  out  in  the  course  of  this  treatise.  Blind 
prejudice  may  strenuously  oppose  their  application,  but  the 
force  of  facts  is  too  strong  to  be  long  delayed  before  sweep- 
ing away  artificially  bolstered-up  theories. 

The  McKinley  Act,  a  Monument  of  Legislative 
Ignorance. 

The  legislators  responsible  for  the  act  did  what  they  were 
expected  to  do.  They  simply  delivered  the  goods  for  value 
received  in  1888,  with  a  tentative  hint  to  future  campaign 
contributions.  Still  they  might  have  shown  an  apprecia- 
tion of  the  consumers'  interests.  They  could  have  learned 
that  they  are  entirely  compatible  with  the  true  interests  of 
the  manufacturers.  An  inquiry  into  the  productive  methods 
of  European  countries  would  have  shown  them  that  these 
are  based  on  vitally  different  principles.     They  would  then 


12  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

have  seen  that  our  importations  are  due  to  only  a  limited 
extent  to  cheaper  labor  cost  in  Europe.  Thej,  as  well  as 
the  recipients  of  legislative  favors,  should  know  that  tech- 
nical and  artistic  skill  are  elements  of  very  great  importance 
in  manufacture.  If  we  are  deficient  in  the  one  or  the  other, 
it  is  only  natural  that  we  import  what  we  cannot  find  equally 
satisfactory  at  home. 

Our  labor,  being  machine  labor,  is  generally  cheaper  than 
European  labor,  which  is  to  a  large  extent  hand  labor  or  in- 
ferior machine  labor  or  unproductive  underfed  labor,  as  com- 
pared with  higher  productive  American  labor.  What  our 
labor  suffers  from,  is  the  high  cost  of  taxed  materials.  Free 
raw  materials  and  a  higher  technical  and  artistic  develop- 
ment would  result  in  lasting  benefits  to  our  manufacturing 
industries,  which  periodic  additions  to  already  extreme  tariJBf 
rates  can  never  do.  They  increase  the  cost  of  production  in 
spite  of  our  cheap  labor,  and  continue  the  congested  condi- 
tion so  frequently  complained  of  by  manufacturers. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  charged  by  Mr.  Bayard, 
the  late  Secretary  of  State,  with  the  important  mission  of 
inquiry  into  the  economy  of  production  and  the  state  of 
technical  education  in  Europe.  The  information  gained 
from  my  investigations  fully  bears  out  these  views.  I  had 
not  been  able  to  make  a  final  report,  and  it  shall  be  my  en- 
deavor now  to  give  to  the  public  a  review  of  the  industrial 
situation  from  personal  observation  in  the  foremost  indus- 
trial countries  of  Europe  and  the  United  States.  From  the 
insight  into  the  competitive  side  of  the  productive  process 
gained  thereby,  it  will  be  not  difficult  to  understand  that  the 
McKinley  tariff  is  opposed  to  the  best  interests  of  our  pro- 
ducing classes,  the  manufacturers  included ;  that  it  failed 
entirely  to  accomplish  what  it  set  out  to  do,  and  that  it 
could  not  end  in  anything  but  failure,  because  starting  on 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  13 

entirely  erroneous  premises,  even  when  it  honestly  strives 
to  benefit  American  industries. 

The  Raw  Material  in  the  Product. 

Before  speaking,  however,  of  production  and  the  proc- 
esses by  which  it  is  conducted  in  the  different  countries,  of 
labor,  its  reward  and  its  productiveness,  of  the  true  causes 
which  lead  on  to  progress,  the  basis  of  prosperity  of  the 
working  classes,  it  is  essential  to  say  a  word  or  two  of 
the  raw  material,  especially  as  the  most  important  part — 
the  inherent  part,  which  gives  character  to  the  fabric — is 
given  but  little  consideration  by  the  tinkers  in  legislation. 

Since  nations  have  risen  from  barbarism  and  isolation 
they  have  become  accustomed  to  exchanging  their  products. 
This  exchange  of  commodities  served  to  create  more  wants 
and  develop  taste.  What  is  not  produced,  for  reasons  too 
varied  to  specify,  by  one  country  is  obtained  through  com- 
merce from  another. 

Now,  among  all  things  impossible  to  produce  by  all  coun- 
tries, gifted  with  the  same  intelligence  and  advancement  in 
science  and  the  arts,  is  that  which  is  the  product  of  nature, 
and  this  we  call  raw  material.  Everything  else  in  the  fin- 
ishing into  an  article  of  use  may  be  reached  even  by  nations 
not  having  the  same  natural  adaptation  and  artistic  feeling, 
by  proper  teaching  and  training.  To  the  raw  material  can- 
not be  given  the  essence  by  cultivation  which  it  derives 
from  the  soil  and  the  climate.  Great  are  the  variations  in 
minerals  even.  Take  clay  and  stone.  One  of  the  reasons 
adduced  for  crazing  in  pottery  is  in  the  different  properties 
which  the  clay  of  this  country  possesses  compared  with  the 
clay  and  kaoline  of  Cornwall  and  Devonshire.  In  iron  ore, 
not  one  ore  has  the  same  qualities  as  another.     We  cannot 


14  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

use  our  ores  for  Bessemer  iron,  except  from  the  remotest 
sections  of  the  countrj^  on  Lake  Superior. 

In  all  these  materials  the  chemical  qualities  and  affinities 
of  the  parts  determine  the  character  of  the  product  so 
entirely  that  only  the  grossest  ignorance  would  endeavor  to 
build  up  industries  and  put  restraint  upon  the  free  choice 
of  nature's  gifts. 

But  even  to  textiles  this  applies  with  fullest  force.  For 
fine  yarn  spinning  no  cotton  equals  Egyptian.  Our  own 
Sea  Island  is  something  quite  different  from  and  superior  to 
the  upland  cottons. 

It  is  only  of  late  years  that  our  cotton  manufacturers 
begin  to  see  the  advantages  which  they  would  reap  from  a 
greater  use  of  Egyptian  cotton.  Though  in  small  quantities 
yet,  as  compared  with  the  use  made  of  it  by  the  English, 
Swiss,  and  German  fine  yarn  spinners,  the  rapid  increase 
during  the  last  few  years  shows  that  even  protected  manu- 
facturers cannot  forever  continue  oblivious  to  the  pressure 
of  trade  facts.  Rays  of  outside  facts  creep  into  the  fool's 
paradise  of  protection,  and  disturb  the  harmony  of  interests 
so  dexterously  fostered,  no  matter  how  carefully  the  blinds 
are  pulled.  Of  the  500,000  bales  of  Egyptian  cotton  raised, 
we  imported  in  1885  a  total  of  4,553  bales  and  in  1890 
some  9,000  bales.     The  bale  is  of  750  pounds. 

Egyptian  cotton  has  properties  which  even  Sea  Island 
cotton  does  not  possess.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  it  has  a 
long  fibre  and  is  therefore  excellently  suited  for  combing 
purposes,  making  a  very  even  thread,  it  has  the  very  great 
advantage  of  a  higher  lustre,  so  that  the  fabrics  made  of  it 
are  softer  and  take  more  the  character  of  silk  goods.  In 
the  dyeing,  the  goods  made  of  Egyptian  cotton  have  more 
brilliancy  of  color,  and  for  cotton  and  silk  mixed  goods  it  ia 
of  especial  importance  that  the  respective  fibres  blend  welL 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  15 

Besides  all  this  the  goods  made  from  this  cotton  take  a  much 
finer  finish.  All  this  is  well  known  to  foreign  manufact- 
urers and  is  the  chief  cause  why  we  import  most  of  our  fine 
yarn  goods.  In  all  American  fabrics  made  to  substitute 
these  foreign  importations,  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  this  first 
principle  in  production,  to  have  the  proper  raw  material  for 
the  goods,  is  painfully  apparent. 

In  no  branch,  however,  are  the  differences  so  great  as 
in  wool.  Our  own  wools  show  conclasively  that  almost 
every  State  of  the  Union  produces  a  different  grade.  For 
instance:  the  wools  raised  in  the  far  West  in  the  new 
Territories  and  States  are  considered  very  inferior  to  those 
raised  in  the  States  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  pasturage 
consists  of  wild  grasses,  which  during  the  dry  season  be- 
come parched,  leaving  the  sandy  soil  underneath  as  a  fine 
dust  or  sand,  which  permeates  the  fleece,  adding  much  to 
its  shrinkage  and  changing  not  only  its  appearance  but  the 
strength  of  staple,  more  especially  where  the  soil  is  alkaline. 
Such  wools  lack  in  lustre  and  spring,  and  goods  made  from 
them  show  a  dead,  cottony  appearance.  They  could  not 
possibly  be  used  as  an  offset  in  the  manufacture  of  fabrics 
which  we  *import,  amounting  in  1890  to  $50,000,000,  and 
which,  adding  duties,  $35,000,000,  represent  $85,000,000 
American  value  laid  down  at  the  ports,  exclusive  of  freight 
and  other  charges. 

For  the  replacing  of  this  vast  amount  the  American 
supply  would  be  entirely  insufficient.  We  raise  the  corre- 
sponding wools  in  very  limited  quantities  (and,  what  is  more 
to  the  point,  in  receding  quantities)  in  the  older  States  only. 
Texas  and  California  wools  have  good  felting  properties. 
For  combing  purposes  they  are  unserviceable.  Of  combing 
wools  only  a  limited  amount  is  raised  in  the  States  lying  east 
of  the  Mississippi.     But  most  of  the  goods  used  for  outer 


16  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

wear  have  for  years  been  made  of  combed  and  not  of  carded 
wool. 

The  same  differences  we  find  in  English  wools.  The 
Southdown  is  different  from  the  north  country  wool  ;  the 
Scotch  from  the  English  ;  the  Welsh  wool  different  from 
the  English  and  Scotch  again.  The  best  reputed  kinds  of 
Scotch  tweeds  can  only  be  made  from  a  particular  class  of 
Scotch  wools.  Irish  wool  is  different  again.  Welsh,  Irish, 
and  Scotch  wools  shrink  but  very  little  when  manufactured 
into  flannels,  knit  goods,  etc.,  in  the  washing ;  German  and 
American  wools,  very  much  more  so.  Australian,  Cape,  and 
Plate  wools  differ  again.  But  these  differences  can  be  made 
very  valuable  by  adapting  the  varying  qualities  to  the 
respective  fabrics  to  which  they  give  their  special  character. 

The  same  can  be  said  of  silk.  China  silk,  Japan  silk, 
Italian,  French,  East  India  silks,  they  all  differ.  Breeding 
and  cultivation  can  improve  the  product,  but  cannot  give  it 
the  properties  which  it  derives  from  the  soil  upon  and  the 
sun  under  which  it  grows. 

In  articles  of  direct  consumption,  this  is  so  well  under- 
stood that  a  reference  to  it  will  make  the  meaning  plain  to 
everybody.  Nobody  accustomed  to  the  taste  of  Hhine  wine 
will  take  American  wines  instead,  nor  would  anybody  who 
had  a  preference  for  French  wines  take  the  Italian  growth 
in  their  place.  No  amount  of  cultivation  will  produce 
Havana  tobacco  in  any  part  of  the  United  States.  Nor 
would  tobacco  grown  in  one  part  of  the  United  States  from 
seed  transplanted  from  another  part  of  the  country  produce 
the  same  tobacco. 

A  tax  upon  raw  materials  will  always  and  necessarily 
injure  home  industries,  because  the  people  who  for  one 
reason  or  another  prefer  an  article  of  foreign  to  one  of  domes- 
tic manufacture  on  account  of  the  inherent  qualities  of  its 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  17 

material,  be  they  what  they  may,  will  buy  the  foreign 
article  if  by  virtue  of  the  duty  the  raw  material  is  excluded 
from  our  workshops  and  factories,  and  thereby  withdraw 
support  to  that  extent  from  home  industries. 

Protectionists  who  always  are  so  full  of  concern  in  behalf 
of  the  working  classes  and  their  employment  at  full  wages 
omit  to  give  this  side  their  consideration. 
2 


CHAPTER  11. 

The  Labor  Question  in  the  Tariff. — The  Old  Labor  Doctrine  opposed  to 
Experience. — The  Cheapness  of  Well-paid  Labor. — Iron  and  Coal 
Mining-Machine  Operating. — Foreign  Labor  not  capable  of  Exertion 
like  American. — Mostly  Crude  Labor  from  Abroad. — Slowness  in 
Adopting  Labor-saving  Improvements  in  Low- wage  Countries. 

Nothing  in  the  whole  catalogue  of  argument  for  pro- 
tection by  its  advocates  has  been  used  with  so  much  effect 
as  the  fact  that  the  daily  wage  rate  of  American  working 
people  is  higher  than  that  paid  by  manufacturing  nations  of 
Europe.  From  this  fact,  that  wages  are  higher  in  America, 
a  fact  not  disputed  by  any  one,  the  conclusion  has  readily 
been  jumped  to  that  the  differences  between  the  rate  paid  in 
Europe  by  competing  nations  and  in  America  in  the  same 
lines  of  industry  should  be  equalized  by  tariff  duties  laid 
upon  the  article  of  foreign  manufacture. 

The  question  here  arises,  What  connection  is  there  be- 
tween the  daily  wages  of  the  workingman  and  the  cost  of 
his  work  ? 

Until  very  recently  the  theory  had  been  accepted  without 
argument  and  criticism  that  a  day's  labor  in  any  one  line  in 
one  country  would  produce  the  same  results  as  a  day's 
labor  in  another  country  ;  indeed,  it  has  been  handed  down 
as  an  axiom,  and  upon  this  the  so-called  iron  law  of  wages 
has  been  built,  which  to  a  large  extent  is  the  cause  of  our 
present  socialistic  agitation.  The  so-called  law  arises  from 
another  so-called  law,  promulgated  by  the  English  school  of 
economists,  that,  if   wages  rise  in  one  part  of  a  country 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  19 

above  the  general  rate  ruling,  very  soon  an  influx  will  fol- 
low of  labor  from  the  lower  stratum,  wbich  will  soon  begin 
to  press  on  and  reduce  the  rate  of  wages  to  the  old  standard. 
This,  then,  necessarily  would  lead  to  a  state  in  which  it 
would  be  hopeless  for  the  working  classes  to  expect  any- 
thing more  than  the  mere  means  for  their  subsistence  and 
for  the  perpetuation  of  their  race.  How  ever  such  a  view 
could  have  got  abroad  and  taken  possession  of  the  thought 
of  generations  is  one  of  these  incomprehensible  features 
which  we  meet  in  the  history  of  thought.  Views  are 
accepted  without  being  questioned  if  put  forth  with  suffi- 
cient authoritativeness,  even  if  the  experience  of  every  day 
shows  their  futility. 

The  Fallacy  of  the  Old  Theory  of  Wages. 

The  theory  of  wages  which  we  combat  in  these  pages  is 
principally  based  on  Ricardo.  He  formulates  this  so-called 
iron  law,  as  a  kind  of  dogmatic  prison-cell  out  of  which 
there  is  no  escaj)e  for  the  working  classes,  and  we  cannot  do 
better  than  to  quote  him  in  his  own  words : 

"If  the  shoes  and  clothing  of  the  labourer  could,  by  improvements  in 
machinery,  be  produced  by  one-fourth  of  the  labour  now  necessary  to 
their  production,  they  would  probably  fall  75  per  cent. ;  but  so  far  is  it 
from  being  true  that  the  labourer  would  thereby  be  enabled  permanently  to 
consume  four  coats  or  four  pair  of  shoes,  instead  of  one,  that  it  is  probable 
his  wages  in  no  long  time  would  be  adjusted  by  the  effects  of  competi- 
tion and  the  stimulus  to  population  to  the  new  value  of  the  necessaries  on 
which  they  were  expended.  If  these  improvements  extended  to  all  the 
objects  of  the  labourer's  consumption,  we  should  find  him  probably,  at 
the  end  of  a  very  few  years,  in  the  possession  of  only  a  small,  if  any, 
addition  to  his  enjoyments." — (The  Works  of  David  Ricardo  :  London, 
John  Murray,  1886,  p.  12.) 

Instead  of  being  not  true  that  the  laborer  would  by  these 


20  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

improvements  be  enabled  permanently  to  consume  four 
coats  instead  of  one,  etc.  (which  is  equivalent  to  reaping  the 
full  benefit  of  the  improvements  in  the  economy  of  pro- 
duction), history  sliows  that  the  effect  of  these  improve- 
ments has  always  been  to  increase  the  well-being  of  the 
laborer.  The  improvements  referred  to  must  by  the  natural 
force  and  the  momentum  given  thereby,  lead  by  necessity  to 
the  improvement  of  conditions  wherein  the  laborer  always 
gets  the  largest  proportion  of  the  gain.  The  facts  lead  to 
exactly  contrary  conclusions  from  those  of  Eicardo  and  the 
schools  accepting  them.  Any  one  who  has  experience  in 
manufacturing  knows  by  his  own  observations  that  the 
laborer's  wages  increase  in  the  proportion  that  his  produc- 
tive capacity  increases,  whatever  the  causes  which  bring  this 
about.  Not  his  money  wages  alone  but  his  real  wages, 
expressed  in  their  purchasing  power. 

Relative  Productiveness  of  Labor. 

Every  employer  of  labor  knows  and  will  readily  admit 
that  the  laborer's  value  stands  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
quantity  of  work  turned  out. 

The  productive  capacity  of  tbe  labor  is  a  varying  quan- 
tity, even  aside  from  the  aid  given  by  machinery  and  inven- 
tion. We  find  not  alone  that  nation  and  nation  differ  in 
the  same  occupations,  but  tbe  different  sections  of  a  country 
vary  in  results  when  output  and  output  is  compared. 

Thomas  Brassey,  in  his  interesting  book,  "Work  and 
Wages,"  gives  an  abundance  of  facts  to  show  the  superior- 
ity of  English  over  continental  labor  in  road-building  and 
railroad-building — navvy  work  principally.  For  the  best 
and  most  difiicult  work,  that  of  making  curves,  etc.,  he 
could  employ  no  other  labor  but  English.    English  labor  was 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  21 

paid  at  a  much  higher  rate  than  continental  labor,  working 
alongside  of  it.  But  still,  measured  by  the  work  done,  in 
many  instances  the  cost  was  higher  at  the  lower  wage  rate  per 
diem  than  the  work  done  at  the  higher  wage  rate  per  diem. 
The  better  feeding  and  better  muscular  development  of  the 
Englishman  is  accepted  now  as  explanation  of  this  fact. 
But  in  reference  to  the  differences  in  the  effectiveness  of 
crude  labor  employed  in  the  same  occupation,  we  can  take 
an  example  from  the  United  States  to  show  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly that  a  day's  work  in  the  same  occupation  is  some- 
thing quite  different  in  different  parts  of  the  same  country. 

Pig-iron-making  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  crudest  industries, 
so  far  as  labor  employment  goes.  The  principal  part  of  the 
labor  expense  at  a  furnace  is  wheelbarrowing  and  yard- 
work.  In  the  Northern  States,  especially  in  the  Pittsburgh 
region,  where  most  of  the  ore  used  is  from  Lake  Superior,  a 
great  part  of  the  expense  is  due  to  the  necessity  of  storing 
the  ore  on  account  of  climatic  influences,  interruption  of 
navigation  in  winter,  and  so  on,  thereby  necessitating  two 
handlings  instead  of  one.  In  England,  with  its  open  win- 
ters, no  such  necessity  exists.  The  ore  is  run  from  the 
mine  on  tracks  to  the  furnace  to  be  filled  into  barrows,  put 
upon  the  lift,  hoisted,  and  dumped  into  the  furnace.  If  im- 
ported ores  are  used,  the  furnaces  being  situated  along  the 
coast,  the  steamers  are  run  close  by  and  the  ore  is  taken 
direct  from  the  ship  to  the  furnace. 

In  the  Southern  States  the  ore  beds  are  situated  so  near 
the  furnaces  that  much  the  same  condition  prevails. 
Crude  labor  per  day  there  is  certainly  not  more  than  about 
two-thirds  of  what  it  is  in  Pittsburgh  ;  still,  with  the  seem- 
ing advantages  of  cheap  day  labor  and  the  advantages  of 
situation  mentioned,  I  found  in  a  recent  investigation  on 
the  labor  cost  in  iron-making  in  certain  furnaces  in  Ala- 


22  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

bama,  that  the  labor  cost  per  ton  is  nearly  the  same  as  in 
Pittsburgh  and  a  little  higher  than  at  furnaces  in  eastern 
Pennsylvania,  which  I  visited  in  1888 — a  time  when  labor, 
consequent  upon  high  iron  prices,  had  obtained  twice  an 
increase  in  pay  of  ten  per  cent. 

This,  my  own  observation,  is  fully  corroborated  in  a  re- 
cent statement  published  by  the  Labor  Bureau  at  Washing- 
ton. Taking  about  twenty -five  furnaces  from  the  Northern 
States,  and  about  the  same  number  from  the  Southern  States, 
the  average  for  both  is  nearly  the  same;  leaving  out  of  the 
average  for  the  Southern  States  three  furnaces  which  are 
given  as  making  iron  at  the  labor  cost  per  ton  of  $0,595, 
$0,784,  and  $1,008  (which  is  an  impossibility  on  the  face  of 
it,  judging  from  the  known  conditions),  the  average  for  the 
other  twenty-one  Southern  furnaces  is  about  $1.70  per  ton. 
This  is  a  higher  average  price  of  labor  than  in  Northern 
furnaces.  Southern  ores,  however,  are  mostly  cheaper  ores 
of  a  lower  percentage  of  iron,  consequently,  require  more 
wheelbarrowing  and  hoisting.  Therefore,  on  the  same  basis 
of  work  done,  the  cost  would  be  about  the  same — if  any- 
thing, somewhat  higher — showing  clearly  that  though  cheap 
labor  gets  less  remuneration  per  diem,  its  cheapness  is  no 
saving  to  the  employers.  More  hands  are  required  to  do 
tlie  same  amount  of  work  that  better  paid  labor  does  at  the 
same  cost.  More  efficient  labor  in  the  North  accomplishes 
greatly  more  in  a  given  time,  and  thus  renders  its  work,  if 
anj^thing,  at  a  lower  cost  than  the  cheaper  labor  elsewhere. 

Differences  in  Coal  Mining. 

Coal  mining  in  the  rich  bituminous  fields  of  America 
gives  a  further  illustration.  Taking  the  data  from  the 
census  of  1890  for  the  mining  industries  of  Alabama,  Ken- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


23 


tucky,  Tennessee,  West  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illi- 
nois, and  Indiana,  we  find  tlie  products,  value,  and  wages  as 
follows  (tons  at  2,000  lbs.) : 


Annual  Product. 

Wages 

PER  Ton. 

3,878,000 

10.94 

1,925,000 

82 

2,399,000 

70 

6,231,000 

60 

36,174,000 

58 

9,976,000 

69 

12,104,000 

69 

Value 
AT  Mine. 


Alabama 

Tennessee. . . . 
Kentucky. . . ., 
West  Virginia 
Pennsylvania 

Ohio 

Illinois 


$1.10 

1.21 

99 

82 
77 
94 
97 


The  lower  cost  per  ton  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the  higher 
day  rates.  An  approximate  idea  can  be  given  from  this 
table  of  the  differences  in  the  labor  cost  and  relative  work- 
ing capacity  in  the  same  line  of  production  in  the  different 
sections.  The  annual  earnings  of  the  laborer  would  not 
permit  to  base  comparisons  on,  on  account  of  the  difference 
in  number  of  days  worked  in  the  year.  The  nature  of  the 
coal  and  the  depth  and  incline  of  the  seams  are  also  differ- 
ences of  importance  in  coal  mining.  But  where  a  survey  of 
production  is  taken  on  so  large  a  scale  a  fair  average  of  con- 
ditions may  be  assumed  to  exist.  Allowing  for  all  possible 
objections  and  eschewing  all  other  generalizations  we  can 
certainly  accept  this  as  irrefutable  evidence  that  coal  is 
mined  cheaper  in  the  Northern  than  in  the  Southern  States. 

As  to  the  earnings,  we  cannot  take  the  yearly  earnings  as 
a  criterion  of  daily  wages.  The  days  of  employment  in  the 
year,  varying  so  much  in  the  different  States,  are  at  hand 
only  for  five  of  these  States.  But  taking  these  and  putting 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  for  the  Southern  and  the  remain- 
ing States  for  the  North  we  find  the  average  day  rate  for 


24 


OF  HIGH 

WAGES. 

Miners.            Laborers. 

Wages  paid 
per  Ton. 

$ 

$ 

Cents. 

1.98 

1.26 

82 

1.75 

1.56 

70 

1.86 

1.47 

60 

2.01 

1.77 

69 

1.96 

1.63 

69 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

West  Virginia. 

Ohio 

Illinois 


Increase   of  Earnings    and    Reduced   Cost    going 
Hand  in  Hand. 

Tlie  labor  cost  per  ton,  it  will  be  seen,  is  lowest  where  the 
average  of  day  wages  is  highest.  But  if  this  demonstrates 
satisfactorily  our  point,  we  can  with  equal  certainty  refute 
the  statement  cited  above  that  labor  does  not  permanently 
gain  by  the  improvements  which  lead  to  a  reduction  in 
price. 

We  can  show  this  by  putting  the  average  annual  earnings 
of  all  employed  in  these  coal-mining  States,  the  labor  cost 
per  ton,  and  the  value  per  ton,  side  by  side  with  the  same 
items  from  the  census  of  1880 : 

Yearly  Earnings.  Wages  per  Ton.  Value  per  Ton. 

1880.  1890.  1880.        1890.  1880.  1890. 

$  S  Cents.  Cents.  $  $ 

Tennessee 332  392  68        82  1.27  1.21 

Kentucky 261  334  73        70  1.20  -0.99 

West  Virginia. .     295  391  72        60  1.10  0.82 

Ohio 320  353  86        69  1.29  0.94 

niinois 382  357  99        69  1.44  0.97 

A  rise  in  the  total  of  earnings  is  very  marked,  and  goes 
hand  in  hand  with  a  very  decided  fall  in  the  price  of  the 
product. 

The  decline  in  the  cost  of  production  is  due  to  nothing 
else  but  to  improvements  governing  the  economy  of  pro- 
duction in  the  mining  industry. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  25 

The  same  practical  results  show  themselves  in  other 
industries  all  along  the  line  so  far  covered  by  the  last 
census. 

In  woolens  the  earnings  of  all  employed  have  risen  from 
an  average  of  $294  to  one  of  $347.  The  price  of  wool  hav- 
ing declined,  as  shown  in  the  opening  chapter,  as  much  as 
twenty-five  per  cent,  between  1879-80  and  1890,  shows,  in 
combination  with  a  greater  use  of  shoddy,  cotton,  and  other 
wool  substitutes  in  the  industry,  that  a  far  greater  bulk  had 
to  be  manufactured  than  is  expressed  in  the  difference  of 
values  of  raw  material,  which  rose  from  $164,000,000  to 
$203,000,000.  Divided  over  the  product,  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion must  necessarily  be  less.  The  bulk  being,  to  say  the 
least,  by  one-third  greater  in  each  dollar's  worth  of  material 
consumed  in  1890  over  1880,  and  the  ratio  in  the  rise  of 
wages  equal  to  the  ratio  of  values  in  material,  leaves  no 
room  for  any  other  conclusion. 

The  Same  Labor  Differences  Manifest  in  Higher 

Products. 

In  the  making  of  finished  iron,  I  was  told  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel 
"Workers  that  the  piece  rates  at  Southern  puddling  furnaces 
were  the  same  as  in  Pittsburgh ;  that  the  labor  there,  how- 
ever, is  very  wasteful,  and  that  experience  has  shown  that 
three  white  men  do  the  work  of  five  colored  men.  This 
proves  conclusively  that  even  work  done  by  mere  muscular 
labor,  shows  great  gradations  in  efficiency  of  the  workers  ; 
that  no  great  competition  and  pressing  down  by  help  not 
used  to  the  work,  or  of  a  lesser  efficiency,  can  ensue,  or  offer 
serious  dangers  to  those  employed  and  possessing  greater 
efficiency,  is  obvious  from  these  examples  covering  crude 
labor  processes. 


26  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQE  WAGES. 

It  is  held  generally  that  labor-operating  machinery  of  the 
same  nature  and  construction  would  turn  out  in  a  given 
time  the  same  amount  of  work.  It  has  been  my  own  expe- 
rience that  labor  turned  on  the  same  kind  of  work,  and  using 
the  same  machinery,  showed  the  most  varying  results.  Sew- 
ing-machine operators  in  my  employ  turned  out,  in  so  sim- 
ple a  labor  object  as  plain  hemming,  all  the  way  from  2,000 
to  6,000  and  7,000  yards  a  week,  which,  paid  at  the  rate  of 
twenty  cents  a  hundred  yards,  gave  wages  varying  from  $4 
to  $12,  and  sometimes  $14,  a  week. 

The  lowest  grade  of  earnings  may  be  due  to  lesser  experi- 
ence and  skill,  as  that  of  beginners;  but  even  among  opera- 
tors of  experience  differences  exist,  if  we  take  $12  as  the 
maximum,  varying  all  the  way  from  $6  to  $12  under  an 
equally  ready  supply  of  work,  and  in  the  same  number  of 
working  hours.  This  is  a  very  simple  article,  requiring 
only  deftness  of  hand,  and  no  special  change  and  shifting. 

Equal  variations  I  found  in  more  difficult  parts — trimming 
and  adjusting.  There  is,  however,  one  very  important  point 
which  will  also  be  conceded  by  every  one  familiar  with 
manufacturing  :  that  the  work  done  by  those  who  earn  the 
highest  wages  and  do  the  work  most  rapidly  is  the  work 
which,  based  upon  its  selling  value,  would  command  the 
highest  prices,  being  done  better,  more  regularly,  and  cleaner 
than  that  of  those  who  earn  the  lower  wages.  This  is  a  very 
important  distinction,  upon  which  too  much  emphasis  can- 
not be  laid  for  the  understanding  of  the  labor  question  as 
well  as  the  understanding  of  the  economy  of  production  in 
general.  In  all  my  inquiries,  abroad  and  at  home,  I  always 
found  this  fact  a  predominating  feature. 

If  such  variations  in  the  skill  and  productive  power  of  the 
individual  workers  under  the  same  roof  and  under  the  same 
direction,  supervision,  and  training,  impress  themselves  upon 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  27 

our  view,  how  much  more  must  we  expect  to  find  variations 
in  the  output  when  the  production  of  the  same  lines  of  goods 
is  carried  on  in  different  countries. 

In  almost  every  employment  of  an  industrial  nature  a  very 
great  amount  of  training  is  requisite  to  make  it  effective  or 
make  it  serviceable  at  all.  Only  in  times  of  very  great 
demand  and  scarcity  of  labor  would  any  one  employ  crude 
labor  in  factories  where  skill  is  required.  The  first  question 
at  all  times  for  an  employer  to  put  would  be,  What  can 
you  do  ?  How  skilful  are  you  ?  What  are  yowc  earnings  ? 
Never  would  he  ask,  How  cheaply  can  you  work?  He 
would  surely  take  the  one  offering  his  or  her  services  first 
who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  earning  the  highest  wages,  do- 
ing the  greater  amount  of  work,  etc.  In  times  of  depression 
or  lesser  demand,  he  would  surely  dismiss  those  of  his  hands 
who  earn  the  lowest  rate  of  wages,  and  keep  those  who  are 
best  paid  per  diem,  etc.  How,  then,  can  it  be  that  wages 
cannot  rise  beyond  the  point  of  mere  subsistence  of  the 
worker,  when  the  skill  of  the  worker  is  so  powerful  a 
factor  in  determining  the  rate  of  wages  ? 

Nor  can  the  rate  of  wages  be  seriously  affected  by  an 
influx  of  new  labor,  because  new  labor  is  seldom  labor 
accustomed  to  the  occupation.  There  is  never  in  any  one 
industry  a  perceptible  amount  of  desirable  labor  floating 
which  could  be  used  to  effectively  compete  with  the  trained 
help  holding  the  field.  No  sensible  employer  would  en- 
gage new  hands  in  place  of  the  ones  used  and  trained  to  his 
work,  even  were  it  offering  itself  for  employment* 

*The  most  recent  appearance  of  the  bogeyman,  that  has  come  within 
my  notice,  is  in  Prof.  R.  T.  Ely's  "  The  Labour  Movement  in  America." 
He  says  : 

"The  cost  of  production  is  the  limit  below  which  the  price  of  other 
commodities  cannot  permanently  fall,  for  the  production  is  diminished  as 


28  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

But  a  main  point  for  consideration  is  this,  that  labor  can- 
not at  the  bidding  of  a  sudden  demand  arising  somewhere 
else  be  removed  from  old  homes  and  associations.  If  trans- 
planted to  new  spheres,  even  in  the  same  occupations,  it  is 
seldom  able,  except  after  long  application,  to  cope  with  the 
trained  labor  of  the  place,  especially  when  the  labor  is  of  a 

the  price  falLs,  and  at  times  ceases  almost  altogether.  But  the  individual 
labourer  cannot  diminish  his  supply  of  labour  so  long  as  he  lives,  and 
misery  and  death  are  the  factors  which  must  bring  about  a  decrease  in 
the  supply  of  his  commodity  and  raise  its  price  to  the  cost  of  production, 
in  other  words,  to  what  it  costs  the  labourer  and  his  family  to  live  and  to 
maintain  the  customary  standard  of  life  among  the  members  of  his  class. 

' '  Closely  connected  with  the  foregoing  is  the  fact  that  the  price  of 
labour  does  not  at  once  rise  when  the  demand  increases,  as  is  usually  the 
case  with  other  commodities,  for  the  first  effect  is  that  the  unemployed 
receive  work ;  and  after  the  *  reserve  army '  finds  employment  competition 
among  purchasers  of  labour  raises  its  price. 

"  Finally,  the  only  way  to  diminish  the  supply  of  the  commodity  labour 
in  the  market  in  the  future  is,  by  prudence  in  marriage,  to  diminish  the 
birth-rate.  But  to  accomplish  this,  will  and  intelligence  are  necessary, 
and  some  probability  that  the  labourer  would  reap  the  fruits  of  his  self- 
denial.  No  such  guarantee  exists,  because  the  folly  of  his  fellows  will 
render  his  prudence  of  no  avail.  In  addition  to  this,  the  labourer  in 
America  can  hope  to  influence  the  supply  of  labour  offered  in  the  market 
of  the  future  only  when  he  gains  some  control  over  immigration." 

The  professor  moves  the  army  of  the  unemployed  about  like  a  condot- 
tiere,  throwing  it  into  this  or  into  that  camp  which  may  be  willing  to  bid 
for  its  services.  The  fact  is  not  considered  at  all  that,  however  large  the 
army  at  any  one  time,  those  belonging  to  any  one  handicraft  or  employment 
are  usually  few  and  rather  scattered.  Given  a  "  reserve  army"  of  1,000  of 
unemployed  in  a  time  of  depression  among  a  population  of  50,000  (certainly 
a  very  large  percentage),  there  would  be,  let  us  say,  25  potters  among  them. 
These  would  be  the  only  ones  that  could  possibly  exercise  a  pressure  on 
the  existing  rates  of  potters'  wages.  The  other  975  would  not  be  of  the 
least  consequence  to  the  potting  industry  and  could  in  no  conceivable  way 
endanger  the  equilibrium.  The  tailors,  the  shoemakers,  the  tinsmiths, 
the  machinists,  the  seamstresses,  the  longshoremen  could  not  possibly  find 
employment  in  any  trade  except  their  own  specialty.     As  working- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  29 

higher  developed  kind,  as  expressed  in  its  higher  earnings. 
Most  of  the  labor  brought  from  foreign  shores  is  of  the 
cruder  kind,  if  industrial,  or  it  is  entirely  agricultural  and 
attracted  by  the  facility  of  obtaining  land. 

The  labor  brought  from  foreign  countries  to  America  to 
work  in  American  mills,  even  if  used  to  the  same  machin- 


men  out  of  employment  are  usually  the  least  expert  ones,  they  cannot 
exert  a  depressing  influence,  even  while  they  are  engaged  in  the  nefarious 
practice  which  haunts  the  vision  of  the  professor.  But  the  "reserve 
army  "  broken  up  into  corporal's  guards  of  occupations  becomes  more 
reduced  yet  in  power  of  doing  mischief.  All  manufacturing  industries 
are  minutely  subdivided  to-day.  The  sewing-machine  operator  on  a 
Willcox  &  Gibbs,  would  be  out  of  place  where  Singer,  or  Wheeler  &  Wil- 
son machines  are  in  use.  The  white  goods  sewer  would  not  be  able  to  get 
along  in  a  factory  working  woolen  goods.  The  straight  sewer  could  not 
compete  with  the  trimmer.  In  pottery,  as  we  have  chosen  that  example, 
the  turner,  the  handler,  the  flat  goods  presser,  the  dish  maker,  the  sani- 
tary ware  maker,  the  mold  maker,  the  dipper,  the  decorator,  etc.,  etc., 
would  all  be  classed  among  our  25  unemployed  potters.  But  each  one 
ever  so  expert,  let  us  assume,  in  his  own  branch  would  find  it  hard  to 
make  a  day's  wages  in  any  one  of  the  other  branches  of  his  trade.  In  a 
factory  of  boots  and  shoes  employing  500  hands  it  is  doubtful  that  as 
many  as  twenty  are  eogaged  in  one  and  the  same  occupation,  each  one 
forming  in  itself  a  specialty,  which  to  become  expert  in  requires  a  good 
long  apprenticeship.  But  wages  are  paid  by  the  piece  in  all  manufactur- 
ing industries,  and  it  can  well  be  understood  what  cleverness  and  skill  it 
requires  to  make  high  earnings,  and  the  advantages  of  the  trained  over 
the  untrained  are  therefore  entirely  unassailable. 

I  can  assure  the  professor  that  in  a  business  experience  of  twenty-five 
years  I  never  was  able  to  find  desirable  accessions  among  the  "  reserve 
army,"  whenever  business  required  me  to  increase  my  stock  of  help.  I 
know  that  the  experience  of  other  manufacturers  is  of  exactly  the  same 
nature. 

Of  course,  the  remedy  of  diminishing  the  supply  of  labor  by  voluntary 
or  involuntary  death  increase  is  unfolded.  The  Malthusian  skeleton  is 
taken  out  of  the  cupboard  and  shaken  whenever  we  find  ourselves 
hemmed  in  by  perplexing  economic  phenomena.  But  the  performance  is 
too  anachronistic  even  for  appeal  to  the  gallery  gods. 


30  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

ery,  is  found  at  first  to  be  entirely  unable  to  compete  with. 
American  labor.  It  is  only  after  considerable  time  that  it  can 
take  its  place  and  earnings  in  common  with  American  labor. 
Here  these  new-comers  work  side  by  side  with  the  old  prac- 
ticed hands  at  considerably  lower  rates.  But  their  lower 
wages  are  expressive  of  lower  working  capacity.  Ameri- 
can higher  earnings  are  only,  in  other  words,  an  expression 
of  a  higber  working  capacity.  In  England  I  frequently 
heard  it  said  that  laborers  brought  from  Ireland  usually 
break  down  after  the  first  week's  trial ;  had  then,  living 
with  friends,  to  first  get  used  to  the  English  standard  of  life, 
and  feed  up  in  order  to  be  able  to  do  work  at  the  English  rate. 
Gradually,  in  keeping  with  their  better  feeding  and  living, 
they  become  as  good  and  strong  workmen  as  the  English. 
Now,  in  American  mills  the  very  same  holds  good.  The 
labor  which  we  bring  from  Europe  is  seldom  employed 
directly  in  manufacturing,  except  in  special  lines  where  the 
work  people  are  brought  over  for  industries  newly  created 
for  which  we  have  no  American  labor  ready,  wanting  the 
training  and  experience  requisite  for  their  operation. 

The  foreign  labor  entering  mill  life  usually  takes  up  the 
crude  labor  processes,  and  with  growing  efficiency  makes 
claim  to  and  quickly  obtains  the  standard  rate  of  wages 
ruling  in  the  respective  occupations.  Skilled  labor  does 
not  emigrate  so  freely  as  is  generally  taken  for  granted  by 
those  who  make  definitions  for  text  books,  and  take  facts 
and  conditions  supposed  to  exist  but  really  as  far  removed 
from  the  living  experience  of  the  day  as  the  study  of  the 
writer  is  removed  from  the  workshop  of  the  worker. 

In  1885  the  emigration  from  the  United  Kingdom  to  the 
United  States,  of  adult  males,  having  been  employed  in 
mechanical  employments,  showed  a  total  of  9,541  only.  Of 
these  2,257  were  miners  and  about  1,750  were  employed  in 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  3i 

the  building  trades — bricklayers,  masons,  carpenters,  etc, — 
the  rest,  of  something  over  5,000,  were  distributed  over 
different  manufacturing  industries.  In  England  I  found, 
far  more  so  than  in  America,  that  the  artisan  classes  and 
mechanics  can  only  with  difficulty  be  brought  to  leave  their 
occupations  and  homes.  Their  earnings  are  remunerative, 
their  expenses  low,  on  account  of  low  cost  of  commodities  due 
to  free  trade,  their  love  of  home  and  surroundings  is  intense; 
and  I  found  during  my  consulship  that  very  few  left  the 
potteries  to  emigrate,  but  that  a  goodly  number  were  at  all 
times  returning  from  America,  preferring,  as  they  said,  the 
old  associations  and  steady  employment  with  a  sure  income 
to  the  high  earnings  in  America,  frequent  stoppages  of  work, 
and  wages  spent  as  freely  as  received.  This  applies  even  to 
Grermany  and  certainly  in  the  strongest  measure  to  France. 
As  to  the  former  country  very  few  skilled  workmen  are  found 
among  the  myriads  who  leave  the  shores  of  fatherland,  com- 
paratively speaking.  Of  the  French,  not  an  emigrating  people 
under  any  circumstances,  the  number  of  skilled  workmen 
coming  over  by  no  means  cover  the  demand  which  is 
always  at  hand  from  special  industries  for  their  higher  skill. 

What  Causes  High  Wages. 

It  is  a  fortunate  sign  of  the  times  that  we  are  at  last 
beginning  to  recognize  the  all-important  and  redeeming  fact, 
that  cheap  labor  by  no  means  means  cheap  production ; 
that,  on  the  contrary,  low  cost  of  production  and  a  high 
wage  rate  go  hand  in  hand.  This  may  seem  paradoxical, 
but  on  closer  examination  it  will  be  found  to  be  entirely 
logical  and  in  keeping  with  the  facts  and  philosophy  of  the 
economy  of  production. 

The   leading   principle  can   be   stated  in  a  few  words. 


32  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

The  United  States,  with  its  vast  resources,  free  laws,  and 
extended  territory,  gives  a  field  for  employment  of  labor 
which  no  other  country  possesses,  excepting  perhaps  the 
Australian  colonies.  The  great  stretch  of  unoccupied  soil 
gives  an  opportunity  for  the  satisfaction  of  what  is  one  of 
the  chief  desires  of  man,  to  be  the  possessor  of  a  homestead 
upon  his  own  land.  From  the  widely  distributed  ownership 
of  land  radiate  all  other  employments.  A  high  wage  rate 
and  a  higher  standard  of  living  are  thereby  insured.  So 
long  as  the  land  is  able  to  absorb,  in  times  of  business 
depression  and  collapse  in  manufacturing  industries,  the 
surplus  labor  of  the  towns,  a  lower  wage  rate  once  reached 
cannot  permanently  maintain.  Labor  under  all  circum- 
stances, instead  of  being  always  ready  to  submit  to  a 
pressing-down  process  by  the  exercise  of  the  undue  power 
of  capital,  as  maintained  by  the  old  economists,  under  free 
laws  and  freedom  of  association  maintains,  and  with  slight 
variations,  always  regains,  if  temporarily  lost,  its  old  position 
and  wage  rate. 

A  perceptible  rise  in  the  rate  of  wages  ruling  in  the 
United  States  and  in  England,  and  even  Germany  and 
France,  has  taken  place  within  the  last  twenty-five  years; 
while  at  the  same  time  a  decline  in  the  price  of  commodities 
and  provisions  has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  this  rise  in 
wages.  The  facts  are  so  indubitable  and  have  so  incontest- 
ably  been  demonstrated  that  we  can  dispense  with  intro- 
ducing data  in  support  of  this.* 

This  in  itself  is  sufficient  to  controvert  the  theory  of  wages 
alluded  to  above.  It  shows  plainly  that  Eicardo's  four  pairs 
of  shoes  or  four  coats  are  absorbed  by  the  workers  and  not 


*  See  Schoenhof,  The  Industrial  Situation.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
1885. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  33 

by  the  capitalists.  A  rise  in  wages  and  a  decline  in  the  price 
of  commodities  is  the  best  evidence  of  this. 

Even  where  the  laborer's  wages  could  become  easiest  de- 
pressed by  the  large  influx  of  foreign  labor  as  in  the  coal-min- 
ing industry,  we  find,  as  shown,  not  alone  that  the  wage  rate 
maintains  itself  upon  the  standard  of  the  workers  of  ten  years 
ago  but  shows  a  steady  increase.  This  is  quite  natural  and 
in  obedience  to  the  powerful  impulse  given  by  freedom  to 
all  labor  to  work  up  to  the  highest  level  of  pay  obtainable 
or  ruling  in  a  country.  It  is  admitted  on  all  sides  that  im- 
ported labor,  like  the  month  of  February,  comes  in  as  a  lamb 
and  goes  out  as  a  roaring  lion.  At  first  ready  to  accept  any 
conditions  for  obtaining  work,  no  sooner  does  it  feel  itself 
securely  lodged  and  able  by  the  acquisition  of  the  necessary 
skill  to  maintain  the  position,  than  it  demands  full  rate  of 
pay.  Hence  this  being  the  case  with  the  only  possible  men- 
ace to  the  ruling  standard  of  wages,  we  cannot  see  that  any 
danger  can  be  discovered  to  the  continuance  of  the  ruling 
high  standard  of  wages.  The  tendency  of  economic  forces 
is  a  rising  one  in  wages,  as  will  be  further  demonstrated,  and 
so  long  as  freedom  is  the  basis  of  action,  the  high  rate  once 
gained  must  be  considered  a  permanent  one,  which  cannot 
be  interfered  with  or  repressed.  The  influence  of  a  protective 
tariff  as  a  force  to  bring  about  conditions  which  create  this 
happy  state  is,  however,  not  more  powerful  than  that  of  a  fly 
on  a  revolving  wheel,  with  due  deference  to  the  opinion  of 
the  fly. 

Happy  as  the  augury  is  for  the  working  classes,  the  em- 
ployer of  labor  is  not  only  not  injured,  but  fully  as  much 
benefited  by  the  inevitable  results  of  a  high  rate  of  wages. 
Indeed  the  law  of  gravitation  is  not  more  absolute  than  this, 
that  where,  as  in  America,  the  rate  of  wages  of  labor  per 
diem  is  a  high  one,  the  first  object  of  the  employer  is  to 
•      3 


34  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH    WAGES. 

economize  its  employment.  The  result  is  that  in  no  country 
is  the  organization  of  labor  in  mills  and  factories  so  com- 
plete as  in  the  United  States.  In  no  country  is  the  appli- 
cation of  machinery  carried  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is 
carried  in  the  United  States.  Here  invention  and  improve- 
ment are  always  most  readily  welcome  in  the  labor  processes 
involved.  Manufacturers  introducing  a  change  in  manufac- 
tures have  a  machine  built  to  accomplish  what  in  other 
countries  would  be  left  to  hand  labor  to  bring  about.  Ma- 
chinery, used  to  the  limit  of  its  life  in  Europe,  is  cast  aside 
in  America  if  only  partially  worn,  or  while  satisfactory  in 
this  respect,  if  an  improvement  has  come  out  that  can  do  the 
work  quicker  and  consequently  cheaper.  The  improvement 
introduced  by  one  manufacturer  in  any  line  is  quickly 
adopted  by  his  competitors.  Labor-saving  is  the  result, 
and  a  cheapening  of  production  ensues,  which  is  the  due 
outcome  of  the  high  cost  of  day  labor  in  the  United 
States. 


CHAPTER  in. 

Low  Wages,  Stagnating  Causes. — Improvement  in  Machinery  more  Prof- 
itable in  High-wage  Countries. — Peasant  and  House  Industries. — A 
Picture  of  a  Home-market  Country. 

If  a  bigh  wage  rate  is  an  impelling  cause  in  this  country 
to  the  introduction  of  improvements  and  the  adoption  of 
labor-saving  processes,  the  low  wage  rate  per  diem  ruling 
elsewhere  is  an  equally  strong  inducement  for  the  continu- 
ance of  rusty  and  antiquated  methods.  The  old  labor 
methods,  going  parallel  with  low  wages,  become  quite  in- 
grained with  the  countries  where  they  prevail,  and  offer 
sufficient  grounds  for  their  perpetuation.  To  the  employer 
of  labor,  advantages  are  offered  which  are  in  themselves 
sufficient  not  to  make  him  anxious  for  changing  the  old  for 
the  new  methods.  Conservatism  becomes  increasingly  pro- 
nounced in  proportion  as  the  rate  of  wages  descends  to  a 
lower  and  lower  scale. 

But  the  effect  of  this  tendency  in  low  wage  countries  to 
adhere  to  old  labor  processes  and  continue  the  employment 
of  obsolete  machinery  and  method,  becomes  obvious  to  all 
when  their  products  compete  with  goods  in  the  same  lines 
produced  by  high  wage  countries.  What  in  other  instances 
would  be  a  commendable  quality,  here  often  becomes  a 
grave  defect.  Durability  is  considered  an  advantage.  In 
the  economy  of  production  it  has  become  a  disadvantage 
when  an  improvement,  or  the  introduction  of  new  machin- 
ery, can  effect  savings  equal  almost  to  the  whole  labor  cost, 


SQ  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

or  reduce  the  labor  cost  to  the  extent  that  a  profit  can  be 
realized  where  none  existed  before. 

A  few  examples  will  illustrate  the  effect  on  the  cost  of 
production,  of  these  rapid  changes  and  improvements  in 
machinery.  In  1886  (a  rather  dull  year)  I  found  in  cotton 
spinning  in  Oldham  that,  in  ninety  mills,  thirty-four  paid 
neither  dividends  on  stock  nor  interest  on  loan  capital ;  an 
equal  proportion  paid  no  dividends,  but  paid  interest  on 
borrowed  capital,  and  only  twenty-two  were  able  to  pay  in- 
terest and  a  moderate  dividend  on  shares.  All  these  mills 
are  conducted  on  the  co-operative  plan.  The  managers, 
superintendents,  etc.,  get  very  little  more  than  workmen's 
wages,  and  everything  is  managed  on  the  most  economical 
basis.  Even  their  basis  of  capitalization  is  one  which  would 
give  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  profitable  employment  of 
capital.  These  Oldham  mills  are  all  established  on  a  capi- 
tal of  which  only  half  is  raised  on  shares,  while  the  other 
half  is  loan  capital.  As  loans  on  a  safe  security  and  for  per- 
manent investment  can  be  raised  in  England  at  the  low  rate 
of  interest  of  three  per  cent.,  of  course,  the  profits  going  to 
the  shares  must  be  correspondingly  higher  as  soon  as  the 
earnings  of  capital  go  above  the  rate  of  interest  paid  on  the 
loan,  than  if  the  whole  capital  invested  were  share  capital. 

But  with  all  these  advantages  in  the  way  of  a  substantial 
dividend  on  the  shares,  the  results  were  as  stated. 

The  latest  reports  from  the  Oldham  spinneries  (for  1891) 
covering  the  same  number  of  mills,  give  even  less  satisfac- 
factory  results  to  the  invested  capital  than  those  of  1886. 

While  those  Oldham  mills,  built  mostly  in  the  sixties, 
were  showing  such  poor  results,  the  workings  of  newer  erec- 
tions were  of  a  very  satisfactory  character. 

A  spinning  mill  at  Rochdale,  run  on  the  same  basis  as 
these  Oldham  mills,  and  whose  work  account  I  had  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  Z7 

privilege  to  examine,  and  a  statement  of  which  can  be  found 
in  No.  70,  Consular  Reports,  paid  a  dividend  of  6  per  cent., 
besides  carrying  an  amount  equal  to  2^  per  cent,  as  surplus, 
to  profit  and  loss.  The  mill  was  recently  built,  had  the  lat- 
est improved  machinery,  and  not  alone  was  enabled  thereby 
to  produce  at  a  lower  rate  of  cost  in  labor  and  expense,  but 
bad  a  lower  rate  of  waste  than  I  found  the  case  elsewhere.    . 

This  shows,  if  nothing  else,  an  advantage  of  machinery 
not  being  too  durable.  The  adoption  of  an  improvement, 
principally  in  the  lower  numbers,  of  cotton  spinning,  some- 
times saves  more  than  the  whole  of  the  spinning  cost.  An 
improvement  in  roving  lately  introduced  promises  a  saving 
of  5  per  cent,  in  cotton  by  diminishing  the  rate  of  waste  to 
that  extent.  The  mechanism  is  an  American  invention,  was 
taken  over  to  England,  and  there,  on  trial,  was  found  to  do 
all  that  it  was  represented  to  have  done  in  America.  An 
insurmountable  difficulty,  as  it  seemed,  arose.  Manufactur- 
ers who  had  shown  themselves  quite  ready  to  adopt  the 
invention  after  having  given  it  trial,  reported  that  it  was  of 
no  use.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  opposition  came  not 
from  the  manufacturers  themselves,  but  from  their  foremen 
and  mill  managers,  whose  reluctance  to  adopt  new  devices  is 
proverbial.  It  is  an  open  secret,  as  has  been  brought  out  in 
many  lawsuits,  that  an  opposition  of  this  kind  is  not  an 
insurmountable  obstacle;  that  it  can  be  overcome  with 
money. 

If  England  is  much  slower  in  adopting  improvements  and 
exchanging  less  advantageous  machinery  for  more  perfected, 
the  Continent  of  Europe  shows  this  in  a  still  more  aggra- 
vated form.  In  Switzerland  I  found  looms  and  spinning 
machinery  that  would  be  considered  inadequate  in  England 
and  America.  The  manufacturers  prided  themselves  on  the 
durability  of  their  machinery,  costing  two  and  three  times  as 


38  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

much  as  tlie  English,  but  lasting  five  times  as  long.  This 
would  in  part  explain  that  work  done  under  such  conditions, 
though  the  wage  rate  per  diem  be  much  lower  in  Swiss  than 
in  English  cotton  mills,  is  dearer  than  in  England,  barring 
the  fact  of  lesser  proficiency  of  labor,  due  to  poorer  nutri- 
tion. But  the  lower  wage  rate  per  diem  accounts  here  also 
for  the  persistence  in  using  machinery  to  the  full  extent  of 
its  natural  life.  The  incentive  is  wanting  for  replacing, 
with  large  capital  outlay,  old  and  obsolete  for  new  and 
improved  machinery.  Quite  on  the  contrary,  the  cheapness 
of  human  labor  where  it  prevails  is  the  greatest  incentive  for 
the  perpetuation  of  obsolete  methods. 

A  High  Standard  a  Prerequisite  to  Improvement. 

A  certain  high  rate  of  wages  is  essential  for  the  profitable 
employment  of  machinery.  It  is  said  that  in  railroad  build- 
ing and  canal  work  in  India,  it  is  found  that  the  low  day 
rate  at  which  laborers  can  be  hired  for  carrying  the  dirt 
away  from  the  banks,  makes  the  employment  of  machinery 
unprofitable  and  unnecessary. 

"  Many  mickle  make  a  muckle."  A  much  higher  rate  of 
wages  and  a  considerably  higher  standard  of  living  of  the 
working  classes  would  have  to  be  preexisting  before  rapid 
and  radical  changes  from  one  kind  of  machinery  to  other 
and  more  improved  machinery  would  be  practical  or  become 
an  economic  necessity. 

In  silk  throwing  I  found  the  labor  cost  in  English  mills 
to  be  higher  than  in  American  mills.  The  wages,  however, 
were  in  America  double  what  they  were  in  England.*     I 

*  This  was  on  a  comparison  of  wages  paid  in  Macclesfield,  England, 
with  wages  paid  in  a  silk  mill  in  Massachusetts.  For  further  information 
on  this  subject  I  refer  to  a  succeeding  chapter  on  the  silk  industry. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  39 

stated  then,  in  my  report,  that  one  mill  in  America  had 
lately  exchanged  old  machinery  for  new,  by  which  change 
the  speed  had  been  increased  from  5,000  to  7,500  revolu- 
tions a  minute.  When  my  report  was  published  in  Eng- 
land, a  silk  throwster  who  read  it  told  me  that  if  they  ran 
their  machinery  at  such  speed  in  their  mills  all  their  girls 
would  run  away,  as  they  had  not  the  nerve  power  to  stand 
such  a  high  rate  of  speed. 

Later  on  I  found  mills  in  America  that  ran  their  ma- 
chinery at  10,000  revolutions  a  minute,  and  one  which  ran 
at  12,000  and  even  13,000  revolutions.  Of  course,  to  keep 
in  line,  all  others  have  to  follow  the  same  rate  of  improve- 
ment. 

The  survival  of  the  fittest  is,  therefore,  so  to  speak,  the 
result  of  a  high  wage  rate;  and  a  high  standard  of  living  in 
industrial  countries,  becomes  the  prerequisite  to  a  low  cost 
of  production.  The  lower  the  rate  of  living,  the  lower  I 
always  found  the  industrial  development  of  the  country.  I 
visited  Ireland  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  whether  low 
wages,  even  with  the  aid  of  improved  methods  of  manufact- 
ure which  I  found  in  some  mills,  were  an  aid  in  production. 
Outside  of  Belfast  and  the  linen  industry,  I  found  labor  very 
inefficient.  In  woolens,  on  improved  power  looms,  the 
results  were  far  below  those  of  English  mills,  while  Ameri- 
can mills  exceed  both. 

Low  Wages  Indicate  liOW  Productivity. 

The  peasant  and  house  industries  of  Europe  are  sprung 
from  the  soil,  in  the  process  of  evolution,  the  progenitors 
of  the  more  improved  systems  of  to-day.  Small  though  the 
income  is  to  the  peasant  homes  from  industrial  work,  their 
agricultural  holdings  are  so  small  that  without  this  addi- 


40  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

tion  the  lot  of  these  poor  people  would  be  still  worsa  la- 
deed,  the  power  mill  has  nowhere  created  so  much  distress  as 
among  the  peasantry  who  were  accustomed  to  look  to  indus- 
try for  part  of  their  income.  The  change  from  hand  embroid- 
ery to  machine  embroidery  by  the  invention  and  introduction 
of  the  so-called  Swiss  machine  has  at  once  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  peasant  women  of  Ireland  a  source  of  em- 
ployment and  of  earnings  which  cannot  be  replaced  by  other 
occupations.  By  generations  of  adaptation  they  have  ac- 
quired remarkable  skill  and  excellent  taste.  Living  in  the 
most  frugal  and  primitive  manner,  they  can  subsist  on  the 
very  lowest  rate  of  pay,  and  hence  make  it  questionable  in 
many  industrial  fields  whether  the  economic  advantages  are 
all  on  the  side  of  the  factory  system. 

How  these  people  live  and  work  can  be  seen  from  an 
examination  of  life  in  Ireland.  The  examination  is  an  inter- 
esting object  lesson.  Two  sister  countries,  only  divided  by 
the  Irish  Channel,  a  three  hours'  run  by  steamer.  The  one, 
England,  holds  the  most  advanced  commercial  and  indus- 
trial position  in  Europe ;  the  other,  Ireland,  the  most  back- 
ward. In  England  wages  for  men  average,  say  four 
shillings  a  day ;  in  Ireland,  all  along  the  west  and  south 
coast,  where  these  peasant  industries  have  given  the  popu- 
lation a  most  remarkable  aptitude  and  versatility,  men  would 
be  happy  if  they  could  be  assured  of  regular  earnings  as 
high  as  a  shilling  a  day.  England,  though  not  raising  more 
than  half  her  food  supply,  feeds  her  people  with  abundance ; 
Ireland,  exporting  large  stores  of  food  produce,  has  a  major- 
ity of  her  people  underfed  and  frequently  on  the  brink  of 
starvation.  All  these  conditions  could  not  be  coexistent  if 
the  old  labor  theory  were  correct.  The  cheap  labor  ought 
to  have  attracted  capital  sufficient  to  make  it  economically 
of  value,  or  by  being  drawn  over  to  England  have  repressed 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  41 

wages  there.  It  is  not  possible  here  to  draw  all  the  deduc- 
tions admissible  from  this  parallel,  but  this  one  in  proof  of 
our  thesis,  that  labor  to  become  economically  valuable,  must 
have  risen  to  a  higher  standard  of  living  than  these  moun- 
tain dwellers  occupy.  In  other  words,  this  would  be,  that 
their  standard  of  wages  would  rise  with  their  greater  effi- 
ciency. The  advantages  and  disadvantages  would  soon 
outbalance  each  other,  and  practically  this  I  found  always 
the  case.  Wherever  I  met  power-mills  in  Ireland,  I  could 
make  a  test  of  practical  application.  The  low  rate  of 
wages  and  of  living  to  which  the  Irish  have  become  reduced 
through  ages  of  oppression,  has  produced  the  result  that  at 
about  one-half  the  rate  of  wages  ruling  in  England,  not  one 
industry  can  hold  its  own  against  the  latter  country  in  the 
same  lines  of  activity. 

Irish  Industries  as  Object  Lessons. 

The  Irish  industries  are  of  peculiar  interest  and  a  fruitful 
source  of  study,  as  showing  the  conditions  from  which  indus- 
trial life  in  general  has  taken  its  rise. 

In  the  remoter  parts  of  the  country — Donegal,  for  instance 
— one  finds  the  most  primitive  conditions  of  life ;  a  sturdy, 
honest,  and  industrious  population,  anxious  and  willing  to 
work.  I  was  there  after  the  evictions  of  the  poor  peasants 
from  their  homes  on  the  Olphert  estate.  The  men  were 
erecting  turf  cabins,  dug-outs,  with  walls  and  roofs  of  turf, 
as  shelter  for  their  families.  After  completing  these  primi- 
tive habitations  the  men  tramped  in  gangs  of  twenty  or 
thirty  to  Derry  or  the  nearest  harbor,  to  take  ship  to  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  for  harvest  work,  to  bring  home  £4  or 
£5  for  the  winter.  I  met  men  who  had  been  two  or  three 
times  in  America  two  or  three  years  at  a  time,  working  for 


42  THE  EOONOMT  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

the  support  of  their  families  at  home.  One  was  preparing 
to  go  a  third  time  in  his  married  life  of  seven  years.  After 
accumulating  a  few  hundred  dollars,  they  returned  home, 
living  with  their  families  till  their  savings  were  used  up. 
The  children  are  sent  to  Derry  and  other  Ulster  towns, 
where  regular  labor  markets  exist.  Here  they  are  hired 
by  the  larger  farmers  and  for  work  suitable  to  their  tender 
age  during  the  summer.  At  the  end  of  the  season  they 
tramp  home  again  with  £2  to  £4  in  hand.  Tn  winter  they 
attend  school.  Neither  mountains,  rivers,  nor  oceans  are 
obstacles  in  the  search  after  work  and  wages.  Neither 
young  nor  old  hesitate  to  seek  abroad  what  is  denied  them 
at  home. 

This  is  in  answer  to  those  who  ascribe  the  poverty  of  these 
sections  to  the  want  of  thrift  and  to  lazy  habits  of  the 
people.  Here  we  find  labor  at  its  lowest  pay,  and  perhaps 
its  lowest  efficiency,  and  the  tools  equally  primitive.  Con- 
ditioned as  it  is,  it  finds  no  markets  for  its  products,  and 
English  capital,  always  eager  to  enter  into  the  most  hazard- 
ous undertakings  in  distant  countries,  has  not  found  the  low 
rate  of  wages  under  which  labor  can  be  hired  there  a  suffi- 
cient inducement  for  employing  it,  except  on  such  work, 
principally  hand  work  of  women,  for  which  they  have 
a  peculiar  adaptation — sprigging  handkerchiefs,  knitting, 
etc. 

The  deftness  of  hand  of  these  peasant  women,  spending 
their  time  largely  in  house  and  field  work,  is  very  remark- 
able. We  find  the  same,  however,  in  the  mountain  districts 
of  the  continent  of  Europe.  A  great  deal  of  the  fine  needle- 
work and  embroidery,  hand  sewing,  kid  glove  making,  real 
lace  making,  and  work  in  numberless  notions  known  under 
the  name  of  articles  de  Paris,  eta,  is  done  by  the  peasant 
women  in  France  and  Germany.     The  price  paid  for  such 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EIQH   WAGES.  43 

work  would  not  suffice  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  most 
penurious  living  here. 

The  linen  industries  of  Germany,  Belgium,  Holland,  and 
Ireland  have  taken  their  rise  from  peasant  industries.  The 
spinning  wheel  used  to  be  found  in  every  household.  In 
Germany,  until  recently,  home-made  linen  of  yarn  spun  by 
the  peasants  was  a  regular  article  of  trade.  It  is  only  of 
late  that  hand-spun  linens  are  gradually  being  replaced  by 
machine-made  linen  in  the  finer  numbers,  while  the  cheap- 
ened production  of  cotton  cloth  is  gradually  driving  the 
coarser  peasant-made  linens  out  of  the  market.  However, 
in  my  recent  visits,  I  found  a  good  deal  of  hand-made  linen 
in  use  still  in  the  northern  part  of  France  and  Germany. 
Peasant  women  still  bring  their  rolls  of  linen  to  market 
towns,  and  at  Leipsic  during  the  fair  I  found  a  good  deal 
exhibited  by  peasants  and  traders. 

The  earnings  per  diem  in  all  these  occupations  are  very 
small.  Still,  taken  collectively,  they  help  to  round  out  the 
family's  income.  Field  work  occupies  the  peasant,  espe- 
cially the  female  part  of  the  family,  only  a  part  of  the  year. 
In  the  winter  months  these  industries  give  very  welcome 
occupation  and  a  means  for  bridging  over  periods  of  scarcity. 
Many  a  highly  developed  industry  of  to-day,  upon  whicb 
the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  nations  are  founded,  took  its 
rise  from  peasant  and  home  industries. 

It  takes  long  periods  of  evolution  till  primitive  peoples 
alienate  themselves  from  producing  everything  that  is  needed 
in  the  home  and  on  the  farm,  and  till  special  trades  arise  to 
supply  their  needs.  In  the  records  of  Strasburg,  up  to  the 
thirteenth  century  we  find  no  reference  in  cloth-making  to 
weavers.  We  find,  however,  dyers,  fullers,  and  finishers. 
It  is  evident  from  this  that  the  weaving  was  done  exclu- 
sively by  the  women  of  the  peasantry  and  of  the  burghers 


44  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOE  WAGES. 

as  late  as  that.  Before  that  period  the  dyeing  of  cloths  was 
done  in  the  same  way.  On  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  condi- 
tions of  this  primitive  nature  prevail  to  this  day,  which  can 
be  considered  fitting  backgrounds  for  the  industrial  devel- 
opment in  progressive  countries. 

Working  for  a  Home  Market, 

There  almost  everything  is  raised  and  produced  on  the 
land  by  the  people.  The  soil  is  poor  and  does  not  yield 
much  under  the  present  system  of  agriculture.  It  is  bog 
land,  badly  drained,  or  not  drained  at  all.  Where  there  is 
no  bog  the  land  is  arid  and  stony.  The  soil  has  to  be  made 
by  the  peasant — actually  created — before  he  can.  think  of 
getting  any  but  the  poorest  crops.  From  a  little  patch  of 
land,  not  more  than  a  few  acres,  under  cultivation,  I  have 
seen  heaps  of  stones  collected  that  would  build  a  goodly- 
sized  stone  fence.  The  bog  has  to  undergo  a  far  more 
serious  treatment.  It  has  to  be  ditched  and  drained.  Then 
a  subsoil  has  to  be  made.  Sand  and  seaweed  are  carried  from 
a  distance,  the  top  of  the  turf  is  burnt,  and  a  manure  thus 
procured  which  then,  with  the  sand  and  seaweed,  is  mixed 
with  the  soil  to  loosen  and  fertilize  it.  I  have  seen  the  men 
and  women  carry  seaweed  in  hampers  upon  their  backs  from 
the  shore  up  steep  hills  for  miles  into  the  country. 

It  is  evident  that  land  which  has  to  be  worked  in  this 
way  can  only  produce  for  the  poorest  living.  Under  con- 
ditions existing  it  can  only  be  worked  by  the  spade.  A 
peasant  and  his  whole  family  working  such  land  could  not 
raise  much  surplus  for  sale  or  exchange.  Land  of  this  sort 
has  to  be  worked  constantly  or  else  it  falls  back  into  a  state 
of  aridity  worse  than  before.  The  land  where  the  tenants 
had  been  evicted  a  year  or  two  previous  to  my  visit  began 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  45 

to  assume  the  cbaracter  of  the  surrounding  bog  and  wild 
land. 

A  people  living  under  such  conditions  would  consider 
any  addition  to  their  earnings,  no  matter  how  small,  a  bless- 
ing indeed.  The  invention  and  adoption  of  machinery,  re- 
placing hand  labor,  has  dealt  the  severest  blow  to  the  poor 
peasantry  of  European  countries. 

Formerly,  all  embroideries  were  hand  made.  White 
edgings  and  insertions  in  numberless  quantities  were  made 
principally  by  the  peasant  women  of  Ireland  and  constituted 
a  vast  industry.  All  this  employment  has  been  taken  from 
them  and  transferred  to  Switzerland  and  Saxony,  the  em- 
broidery machine  being  now  found  in  the  Swiss  and  Saxon 
mountain  homes,  doing  largely  for  an  entirely  new  set  of 
workers  what,  before  the  advent  of  the  machine,  the  needle 
had  done  for  the  peasants  of  Ireland. 

In  such  conditions  the  population,  cut  off  from  the  sea  for 
want  of  harbors  with  landing  facilities  for  ships  and  by  the 
absence  of  railroads  from  land  communication,  is  obliged  to 
perpetuate  the  old  state  of  living  in  making  everything  that 
is  required  at  home.  The  farmer  is  a  farmer  and  a  builder 
too.  All  the  houses  are  built  by  the  farmers.  The  houses 
built  in  the  last  few  years  show  a  great  advance.  They  are 
better  built  and  more  commodious  than  those  of  older  times. 
While  the  old  houses  were  mere  mud  hovels,  with  the  cow 
and  the  pig  under  one  roof  with  the  family,  without  parti- 
tions even,  the  new  houses  have  separate  buildings  for  the 
animals,  and  the  dwellings  are  divided  into  three  rooms, 
usually,  the  kitchen  in  the  middle  and  a  good-sized  room  on 
each  side  ;  windows  and  doors  are  well  put  in  and  the  roofs 
are  slated.  This  is  due,  not  to  a  new  acquisition  of  skill  in 
the  peasants,  but  to  a  change  in  the  laws  which  prevents  the 
landlord  from  exacting  increased  rents  from  the  peasant 


46  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

upon  every  sign  of  improvement  on  the  farm.  Indeed,  the 
old  laws  and  conditions  spread  like  a  pall  over  the  whole 
land  and  largely  explain  the  anomalies  mentioned  above. 

This  I  found  not  alone  in  poor,  stricken  Donegal,  but  in 
the  famed  Protestant  part  as  far  north  as  Portrush.  The 
reputed  Ulster  tenant  rights  were  by  no  means  a  guarantee 
against  rack-renting  on  any  visible  sign  of  farmer  prosperity, 
such  as  decent  dwellings,  slated  roofs,  and  increased  pro- 
ductiveness of  the  soil.  Since  the  establishing  of  the  land 
courts  and  other  measures  of  protection  against  the  rapacity 
of  landlords,  improvements  have  sprung  up  which  are  the 
natural  outcome  of  greater  security  of  tenure  and  a  guaran- 
tee of  the  unhindered  enjoyment  of  the  fruit  of  one's  labor. 

This  only  in  parenthesis,  and  to  return  to  our  peasant 
industries. 

The  clothing  of  the  people  is  made  by  the  women.  They 
shear  the  wool,  scour  it,  card  it,  spin  it,  and,  if  they  have 
looms,  weave  it,  or  give  it  to  a  weaver,  also  a  peasant  The 
dyeing  is  done  with  especial  skill.  They  have  many  lichens 
and  other  plants  which  they  gather  and  use  in  making  dyes. 
Their  friezes  and  tweeds  look  especially  well  when  made 
up.  They  make  very  handsome  cardinal  arid  blue  friezes 
for  women's  wear,  frequently  adorned  with  a  colored 
border.  I  have  been  shown  by  a  peasant  woman  some 
blankets  and  quilts  of  wool  of  a  rich  cardinal,  very  evenly 
dyed. 

Such  are  the  natural  industrial  powers,  now  going  to 
waste  for  want  of  employment,  of  perhaps  the  poorest 
peasantry  of  Western  Europe.  They  are  a  world  by  them- 
selves. They  show  us  more  than  anything  else  how  easy  it 
is  to  establish  manufacturing  industries  where  the  population 
is  naturally  gifted  with  all  the  elements  of  knowledge  per- 
taining to  manufacturing.    These  peasants  are  confined  to  a 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAOES.  47 

home  market.  They  work  for  a  home  market.  They  eke 
out  a  precarious  living  only  by  going  outside  of  their  own 
districts  and  home  surroundings  for  earnings  which  they 
cannot  possibly  make  at  home,  under  the  conditions  that 
have  been  forced  upon  them  by  the  ruthless  conquerors  who, 
in  successive  waves,  have  taken  possession  of  the  more  pro- 
ductive soil,  and  whose  spirit  was  well  characterized  in  their 
ultimatum  to  the  poor  Irish,  "to  hell  or  to  Connaught." 
But  the  picture  given  here  shows  us  approximately  what 
must  have  been  the  beginning  of  the  industries  of  the 
modern  world,  the  foundation  from  which  Europe  started 
in  its  industrial  development. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe  other  and  far  more  compli- 
cated industries  have  taken  their  rise  in  the  peasants'  homes 
and  are  still  successfully  carried  on  there,  some  requiring 
great  skill  of  hand  and  showing  a  depth  of  artistic  feeling  to 
an  astonishing  extent.  I  refer  to  the  wood-carvers  of  the 
Bavarian  and  Tyrolese  mountains. 

These  poor  peasants,  without  any  art-school  training,  with 
a  hand  made  heavy  by  field-work,  display  a  fineness  of  ex- 
ecution and  a  depth  of  feeling  in  some  of  their  work  which 
I  have  not  seen  approached  by  any  of  the  numberless  pro- 
ductions of  pupils  and  graduates  of  the  many  industrial  art 
schools  of  Europe.  In  Ireland,  charming  objects  of  wood- 
carving  done  by  peasants  are  thrust  under  your  eyes  on 
ever}'  roadside  by  peasant  women.  They  are  cut  from  bog 
oak,  an  extremely  hard  wood.  Though  the  designs  are 
limited  to  Irish  emblematic  figures  of  a  rather  conventional 
character,  they  still  show  much  natural  taste.  The  carvers 
are  entirely  self-taught.  The  few  art  schools  in  the  larger 
towns  are  certainly  not  reached  by  them,  and  have  so  far 
not  exercised  any  influence  upon  this  art. 

Another  industry,  also  largely  a  peasant  industry,  is  the 


48  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

making  of  real  lace.  It  used  to  be  a  source  of  income  to  the 
poor  peasantry  of  Ireland,  but  fashion,  more  than  anything, 
has  made  this  in  all  countries  where  the  industry  exists  a 
precarious  source  of  income.  Irish  lace  designs  are  stiff  and 
conventional,  and  while  the  lace  industry  of  Belgium  and 
the  Saxon  and  Bohemiaja  mountain  districts  has  received  a 
new  impetus-of  late  years,  Irish  lace-making  can  hardly  be 
considered  an  industry  now. 

The  proper  teaching  in  design  b}'^  art  schools,  brought 
into  proper  contact  with  the  lace  workers  of  Belgium,  Aus- 
tria, and  Saxony,  is  freely  acknowledged  by  the  people  as  a 
constant  and  beneficent  stimulus. 

I  can  only  passingly  refer  to  the  varied  industries  of  Thu- 
ringia  in  glass,  porcelain,  toys,  and  other  varieties  of  fancy 
goods  too  numerous  to  specialize.  They  reach  into  every 
household  in  the  plains  and  the  mountains.  A  far  more 
complicated  industry,  however,  than  any  of  these — that  of 
watch  and  clock  making — may  also  be  classed  among  the 
peasant  industries.  In  the  Black  Forest  of  Southern  Ger- 
many and  in  Switzerland  this  industry  arose  in  the  early 
part  of  the  century.  The  work  is  distributed  to  every  ham- 
let and  home  in  the  mountains.  The  earnings,  small  as 
they  are,  have  helped  to  keep  away  starvation,  which  was 
formerly  a  frequent  visitor.  Lately,  machinery  has  been 
introduced  to  make  competition  with  American  clocks  and 
watches  possible. 

America,  with  its  high-cost  labor,  is  always  the  dreaded 
competitor  of  these  poorest  paid  working  people  of  the 
industrial  countries  of  Europe.  The  employment  of  labor- 
saving  automatic  machinery  of  American  origin  in  these 
trades  is  intended  to  bring  about  the  basis  upon  which  they 
hope  to  be  able  to  maintain  themselves.  The  use  which  I 
have  seen  made  of  American  machinery  in  a  watch  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  49 

clock  factory  in  Trieberg,  in  the  Black  Forest,  has  given  me 
the  imDression  however,  that  the  results  obtained  there  will 
fall  quite  short  of  the  results  obtained  here,  and  that  the 
machinery  used  in  a  country  whose  industries  are  entirely 
built  upon  the  employment  of  machinery,  largely  automatic 
machiner;^,  is  something  quite  different  when  employed  by 
a  people  whose  industries  have  been  built  upon  hand  pro- 
cesses, and  where  the  cheapness  of  labor  is  a  bar  to  the 
introduction  and  economic  employment  of  the  American 
system  of  work. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Advantages  of  Old  Methods  iu  Certain  Industries. — House  Industries 
economically  considered. — The  Silk  Industry  of  Europe. — The  Mode 
of  Living. — The  Rate  and  Method  of  Paying. — The  Master  and  the 
Weaver  dividing  the  Piece  Rate  paid  by  the  Manufacturer. — Aux- 
iliary Help,  how  paid. — Neither  Risk  nor  Expense  to  Manufacturer. 

One  of  the  leading  industries,  the  silk  manufacture  of 
Europe,  spreads  far  into  the  country  districts  from  the 
respective  centres.  It  is  as  well  a  country  as  a  town 
industry.  The  work  is  still  distributed  into  the  individual 
homes,  although  power  mills  are  run  for  some  of  the  staple 
goods,  ribbons,  etc.  The  silk  and  velvet  industry  of  Ger- 
many, Switzerland,  France,  and  Italy  is  conducted  on  about 
the  same  basis. 

In  1885,  in  Crefeld  and  surroundings,  the  power  loom 
stood  in  its  relation  to  the  hand  loom  as  one  to  twenty. 
The  weavers  receive  from  the  manufacturer  the  silk  and 
warp  yarn  dyed  and  ready  to  be  put  on  the  looms.  The 
system  has  its  advantages,  certainly,  in  articles  like  silk 
and  satin,  over  the  new  system  of  manufacturing  in  power 
mills.  The  advantages  are  so  great  although  the  price 
paid  by  the  piece  to  the  weaver  in  power  mills  is  below 
what  the  very  poorly  paid  hand-loom  weavers  receive  for 
their  work,  that  it  is  not  likely  that  the  factory  system, 
economically  considered,  will  be  found  preferable,  except  in 
a  country  like  America,  which,  for  very  weighty  reasons. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  51 

cannot  possibly  conduct  its  industries  upon  the  basis  of 
manufacturing  just  mentioned. 

To  illustrate  the  working  s)'stem  on  this  plan  I  will  give 
a  few  examples.  We  obtain  thereby  the  output,  the  price 
paid,  and  the  standard  of  living  of  the  working  classes  under 
the  old  system.  For  instance,  a  hand-loom  weaver  had  a 
piece  of  satin  on  his  loom,  of  which  the  following  is  an 
account :  it  was  of  two  widths  on  the  loom — 47  centimeters 
wide  each  (17  to  18  inches)  and  40  meters  long.  The  price 
paid  him  per  double  meter  was  58  pfennige,  or  about  15 
cents.  The  quality  was  of  1,862  reeds  of  4  threads  each. 
(Power-loom  weaving  in  America  would  not  be  paid  at  a 
higher  rate,  but  a  fairly  good  weaver  would  turn  out  three 
times  as  much.  This  class  of  goods,  however,  is  made  very 
little  in  this  country.)  Of  this  quality  the  Crefeld  weaver 
could  make  three  and  a  half  meters  a  day,  working  twelve 
hours  in  summer,  and  in  winter,  by  the  aid  of  lamp  light, 
longer  hours  yet,  frequently  as  late  as  ten  at  night.  The 
children  did  the  spooling,  and  out  of  24  marks  for  the 
piece  he  had  to  pay  about  3  marks  per  piece  to  the  loom 
fixer.  It  takes  the  loom  fixer  about  a  day  for  a  double- 
width  piece  of  satin  of  this  description.  The  loom  fixer 
goes  from  house  to  house  to  the  weavers  to  make  ready 
their  warps. 

All  the  weaver  can  earn,  therefore,  net  for  two  weeks' 
work  is  20  marks,  or  10  marks  ($2.40)  a  week.  The 
question  as  to  saving,  where  such  scanty  wages  prevail, 
is  naturally  met  with  a  laugh. 

How  These  Low-wage  Earners  Live. 

The  mode  of  living  of  these  poor  people  is  of  the  poorest, 
and  their  pallid  color  and  emaciated  condition  tell  the  whole 


52  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

sad  story,  "but  also  that  better-fed  people  and  less  run-down 
labor  would  undoubtedly  produce  more  than  what  these 
were  doing.*  They  do  not  work  very  steadily  either.  A 
good  deal  of  time  is  spent  in  pauses.  Every  gossip  brings 
a  welcome  interruption.  I  found  in  the  whole  district, 
wherever  I  went,  pretty  nearly  the  same  state  of  things. 
Men's  earnings  on  work  of  this  and  similar  character  were 
from  10  to  12  marks  a  week,  and  women's  from  7  to  8. 

*  I  came  to  one  of  these  weavers  at  dinner  time.  They  were  husband 
and  wife  and  two  children  and  a  baby  on  the  breast.  Their  dinner  con- 
sisted of  soup,  sourcrout,  sausage,  and  bread.  Under  a  plentiful  supply  this 
might  be  considered  a  fair  meal.  But  the  soup  was  water  with  milk.  I 
could  not  detect  a  trace  of  fat  even  on  the  soup,  though  an  evidence  of  it 
would  have  shown  on  the  soup  in  the  plates.  The  children,  however, 
seemed  to  relish  it.  Remarking  on  the  character  of  their  soup  and  on 
my  question  what  else  their  dinner  consisted  in,  the  wife  lifted  the  cover 
off  the  pot  on  the  stove,  in  which  I  saw  sourcrout  enough  to  fill  a  soup 
plate  not  overfull,  and  one  little  sausage  of  the  size  of  a  Frankfurt.  Low 
as  this  fare  is,  and  little  strength  as  it  can  impart  to  the  people  who  are 
raised,  live,  work,  and  die  under  it,  it  is  by  no  means  the  lowest  which 
supports  life  of  the  working  classes  of  this  and  other  districts  of  Germany. 
In  the  eastern  provinces,  Silesia  for  instance,  the  sausage  even  is  not  an 
everyday  occurrence. 

These  people  made  silk  velvet,  50  centimeters,  or  19^  inches  wide,  for 
which  they  received  3.70  marks  (64  cents)  per  meter.  They  work  13  ^ 
hours,  commencing  at  5.30  in  the  morning,  and  do  about  80  centimeters 
(about  33  inches)  a  day.  The  wife  at  intervals  relieves  the  husband,  or 
she  works  on  a  separate  loom  (at  the  time  worked  by  another  working- 
man).  They  gave  as  their  earnings  for  the  past  year  630  marks 
($151),  and  estimated  the  husband's  part  of  this  as  450  marks,  and  the 
wife's  part  as  180  marks.  This,  however,  I  will  add,  was  the  lowest  rate 
of  earnings  I  met  with.  Leaving  out  the  wife  as  an  independent  worker, 
as  she  cannot  be  counted  as  doing  more  than  relieving  the  husband,  we 
can  say  that  their  combined  earnings  would  have  represented  at  that 
time  the  higher  wage  rate  of  adult  male  hand-weavers,  to  wit :  18  to  13 
marks,  and  the  husband's  earnings  the  lower  wage  rate,  dependent  either 
on  the  better  paying  work  or  on  the  greater  capacity  for  work  of  the 
weaver. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  53 

Quite  a  number  of  them,  however,  have  little  patches  of 
land,  which  supply  them  vegetables  and  potatoes,  and  thus 
render  them  considerable  assistance.  A  few  from  better 
times  own  their  own  houses,  but  where  tbej  depend  entirely 
upon  the  result  of  this  industry  they  are  frequently  placed 
in  a  very  pitiable  condition,  as  so  much  in  silk  depends  on 
fashion. 

In  the  very  article  just  mentioned,  what  was  then  being 
paid  under  a  limited  demand  at  the  rate  stated,  of  58  pfen- 
nige  a  meter,  used  to  be  paid  a  few  years  previous  on  a 
brisker  inquiry  at  92  pfennige  (22  cents)  a  meter.  In  this 
industry,  therefore,  more  than  in  any  other,  the  weaver's  con- 
dition alternates  between  times  of  prosperity  and  fair  living 
and  times  of  depression  and  semi-starvation.  Power-loom 
weavers  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  district,  were  earn- 
ing in  sixty-eight  hours'  working  time  per  week,  from  18 
($4.32)  to  22  marks  ($5.28). 

How  They  Work  in  Lyons. 

In  Lyons,  hand-loom  weavers  make  the  finest  goods,  for 
which  Lyons  is  renowned  and  unapproachable. 

The  master  weaver  takes  his  tram  and  organzine  from  the 
manufacturer  and  brings  back  the  finished  goods.  He  usu- 
ally employs  a  number  of  workmen  and  women,  with  whom 
he  and  his  wife  work  along,  each  on  a  separate  loom.  The 
master  pays  the  rent  of  the  workshop  and  furnishes  the 
looms  to  his  help.  One  master  whom  I  visited  had  four 
looms  on  very  fine  silk  and  beaded  stuff  then  in  fashion  (1887), 
for  which  he  received  6f.  ($1.15)  a  meter.  To  show  the 
alternations  of  high  prices  and  high  earnings,  and  low  prices 
and  low  earnings,  as  influenced  by  fashion  and  demand,  I 
will  state  that  for  that  very  material  the  year  previous  the 


64  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

weaver  master  received  12f.  ($2.30)  a  meter,  and  of  course 
paid  tlie  workmen  accordingly.  Under  the  reduced  demand 
and  price  of  6f.  per  meter,  the  workmen,  doing  two  meters  a 
day,  received  3f.  per  meter.  Their  workday  is  from  7  A.  M. 
to  8  P.  M.,  with  two  hours  for  meals.  Out  of  these  6f.  the 
workman  pays  a  girl  helper  1.25f.  (24  cents),  and  the  mas- 
ter pays  her  an  equal  amount.  This  reduces  the  net  part 
going  to  the  master  to  2.37f.  (45  cents)  per  meter.  The  rent 
for  the  premises  in  which  to  place  four  looms,  inclusive  of 
house  room  for  the  master  and  his  family,  was  3o0f.  ($68)  a 
year.  This  master  made  4.75f.  (93  cents)  a  day  on  each  of 
the  two  looms  then  worked  by  workmen,  besides  the  full 
amount  of  what  was  made  by  himself  and  his  wife  on  the 
loom  worked  by  themselves.  Of  course  full  earnings  could 
not  be  made  by  either  on  their  looms,  ^the  master  being  occu- 
pied part  of  his  time  in  going  backward  and  forward  to  the 
manufacturer  and  doing  the  outside  work.  Part  of  the 
wife's  time  is  taken  up  in  household  duties. 

Another  master,  helped  in  a  similar  way,  was  engaged  on 
furniture  velvet  of  a  very  fine  quality.  He  received  20f.  a 
meter  for  a  piece  of  fifty  meters  long.  It  takes  an  expert 
weaver  about  four  months  to  finish  a  piece.  It  takes  two 
weeks  to  mount  the  loom.  The  weaver  gets  lOf.  a  meter  and 
makes  about  four  to  four  and  a  half  meters  a  week.  He  pays 
the  boy  helping,  often  a  son  or  other  relative  of  the  weaver, 
3f.  (58  cents)  a  week,  and  the  master  pays  him  the  same 
amount.  This  leaves  to  the  workman  37f.  to  42f.  ($7  to  $8) 
a  week,  or  from  6f.  to  7f.  ($1.16  to  $1.33)  a  day.  The  master 
makes  an  equal  amount  gross  from  the  loom  worked  by  his 
workmen,  less  the  mounting  of  the  loom  and  the  preparing 
of  the  warp,  which  he  has  to  pay  alone  out  of  his  share. 

This  sort  of  work  was  also  then  not  in  very  brisk  demand, 
being  somewhat  out  of  fashion,  and  showed  the  influence  of 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  55 

depression  in  trade  on  the  earnings  of  the  workpeople.  On 
the  whole,  these  three  examples  show  how  different  the 
earnings  of  workpeople  are,  engaged  in  the  same  industry 
and  in  the  same  manner  of  home  industries,  supplied  with 
the  material  from  the  manufacturer,  and  doing  the  complete 
work  in  their  own  homes  or  in  shops  under  the  eyes  of 
masters. 

The  most  depressed  condition  in  the  trade  I  found  in  Ger- 
many, where  the  average  of  wages  was  not  over  two-thirds  of 
what  it  was  in  Lyons,  and  earnings  in  silk  weaving  varying 
between  fifty  as  the  mark  of  depression  and  a  hundred  as 
that  of  active  demand. 

Lyons  is  especially  renowned  for  the  beauty  of  its  work  in 
all  silk  goods  of  a  rich  character.  It  is  the  leader  in  fashion 
in  silks  all  over  Europe  and  America.  Its  taste  in  design 
and  color  is  equalled  nowhere.  When  silk  fabrics  are  in 
fashion,  its  workpeople  are  the  first  to  feel  the  effects,  and 
it  is  difficult  often  to  execute  the  orders  pouring  in  upon 
them.  Not  alone  does  the  wage  rate  per  yard  rise,  but  work 
supply  is  abundant,  and  high  earnings  result  from  both 
causes.  Of  course,  the  opposite  effect  results  from  decline 
of  demand. 

Economic  Advantages  of  the  Old  System  to  the 
Manufacturer.     Capital  Left  Free. 

It  seems  to  be  settled  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful  observ- 
ers that  the  system  of  work  prevailing  in  the  silk  industry 
of  Europe,  as  described,  cannot  easily  be  superseded.  It 
offers  to  the  manufacturer  advantages  which  full}''  counter- 
balance the  advantages  accruing  to  him  from  the  smaller 
rate  paid  per  yard  in  power  mills.  First,  the  all-important 
fact  that  the  manufacturer  can  employ  all  his  capital  as  free 


66  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES. 

and  floating  capital.  He  requires  no  fixed  capital.  He  has 
not  hundreds  of  thousands  invested  in  brick  and  mortar  and 
machinery.  The  looms  belong  to  the  weavers  without  any 
risk  of  ownership  to  the  manufacturer.  Mostly  all  manu- 
facturers, owners  of  power  mills,  and  especially  so  in 
America,  are  bound  by  the  necessity  of  keeping  their  work- 
people together.  They  feel  impelled  by  this  to  supply  work 
to  them,  even  in  times  of  slack  demand.  In  America  the 
workpeople  are  apt  to  leave  the  neighborhood  for  other 
employments  wherever  they  offer.  The  manufacturers,  hav- 
ing perhaps  spent  years  in  training  their  help  to  their 
work,  know  the  difficulty  of  getting  a  supply  when  needed. 
For  these  reasons  they  quickly  overstock  themselves  with 
goods  made  for  stock  instead  of  goods  made  on  orders,  soon 
become  involved,  have  to  raise  money  to  keep  themselves 
afloat,  and  have  to  sacrifice  stocks  in  order  to  raise  money 
and  keep  going.  In  times  of  prosperity  and  active  demand 
earnings  and  profits  are  high.  But  few  in  America  are  cir- 
cumspect enough  to  lay  by  their  surplus  profits  to  tide 
them  over  a  rainy  day,  sure  to  come  with  the  high-pressure 
industries  in  America. 

The  European  manufacturer  is  not  so  eager  to  extend  his 
works,  adding  machinery  and  buildings,  but  is  satisfied  to 
lay  up  his  surplus  profits  as  reserve  capital.  The  American 
system  gives  great  results  in  times  of  active  demand  and 
unrestricted  outlet,  but  shows  frequently  disastrous  results 
when  depression  sets  in.  The  manufacturer  in  Europe  in 
tbis  and  similarly  conducted  industries  has  no  responsibil- 
ity and  no  engagements.  He  works  on  orders ;  he  does 
not  start  his  looms  till  he  has  received  the  orders  which 
come  from  all  the  markets  of  the  world.  Except  in  articles 
for  which  he  is  certain  that  he  has  a  ready  demand  in  the 
near  future,  he  seldom  does  give  work  except  after  it  has 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  57 

been  ordered.  A  change  of  fashion  can  be  easily  met  by 
him,  and  although  dulness  may  be  a  loss  of  profits  and 
trade,  yet  it  is  no  risk  to  his  investments,  because  he  has  no 
capital  invested  in  a  factory,  and  is  not  compelled  to  work 
on  stock  to  keep  his  help. 

The  system  of  working  on  the  domestic  industry  plan 
saves,  besides  all  general  manufacturing  expenses,  the  inter- 
est on  fixed  capital  employed  and  most  of  the  auxiliary 
help  necessary  in  the  running  of  a  mill.  His  items  of  cost 
are  always  given,  fixed  quantities.  The  savings  in  the 
general  expense  part  of  the  manufacturing  cost,  inter- 
est, and  fixed  charges  are  so  great  that  they  would  com- 
pensate for  any  saving  in  the  power-mill  rate  of  wages  per 
piece. 

There  are,  however,  other  advantages  in  hand-loom  weav- 
ing in  silks.  First,  cheaper  silks  can  be  used  to  advantage, 
while  in  power-mill  weaving,  and  especially  in  America, 
with  less  skilled  workpeople,  a  much  stronger  and  better 
quality  is  required.* 

Another  point  is  this,  that  goods  made  on  hand  looms  are 
quite  different  from  those  made  on  power  looms.  The 
hand-loom  product  shows  greater  softness,  suppleness,  and 
character  than  power-loom  work.  Of  course,  in  a  general 
sense  what  can  be  made  on  a  power  loom  can  be  made  on  a 
hand  loom,  but  to  the  eye  the  two  are  quite  different  things. 
People  are  guided  by  their  tastes,  and  are  determined  to 
have  that  which  pleases  their  senses  most,  their  eye  and 
their  touch,  and  it  is  plain  that  they  will  continue  to  be 
guided  by  preferences  in  this  direction.  The  hardness  of 
American,  the  softness  of  Lyons  fabrics  are  features  well 
known  to  all  wearers  of  silks. 

*  See  chapter  on  silk. 


68  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

The  Evolution  of  Industries. 

It  is  very  important  to  keep  these  distinctions  in  view  as 
starting  points  for  an  understanding  of  the  industrial  prob- 
lem under  examination.  Tiie  industrial  development  of  all 
Europe  has  sprung  from  conditions  like  those  of  Ireland, 
described.  The  conditions  as  we  find  them  in  outlying 
countries  of  Europe,  mountain  districts  of  the  continent,  the 
islands  and  highlands  of  Scotland,  and  the  west  of  Ireland, 
are  those  which  prevailed  in  more  advanced  industrial 
countries  at  more  or  less  remote  periods. 

"We  can  follow  the  process  of  industrial  development  of 
centuries  under  our  own  eyes  if  we  go  from  the  stagnant  to 
the  more  advanced  countries.  We  observe  in  the  economy 
of  production  a  process  of  evolution  that  has  been  going  on 
from  the  remotest  to  the  present  time.  We  need  not  go 
back  into  the  historical  records  preserved  to  us  in  libraries, 
or  in  anthropological  museums,  to  get  back  to  the  begin- 
ning. The  past  from  which  our  civilization  has  sprung  is 
still  living  with  us.  All  we  need  to  do  is  to  go  among 
primitive  people  and  study  their  methods  of  work,  their 
tools  and  employments,  and  mode  of  living,  and  we  can 
surely  find  the  prototype  of  our  own  ancestors  in  the  differ- 
ent stages  of  their  development.  As  the  tools  have  changed, 
so  have  the  systems  of  work  changed.  The  simple  work- 
shop is  a  step  beyond  the  original  house  industry  ;  the  work- 
shop of  larger  dimensions,  with  divisions  of  labor  added,  is 
an  extension  of  the  primitive  workshop ;  the  factory  is  an 
extension  of  the  workshop,  and  the  power  mill  an  advance 
on  the  factory.  The  people  employed  are  the  people  born 
and  bred  on  the  soil  for  generations,  used  to  all  the  employ- 
ments by  heredity,  as  having  been  for  generations,  perhaps, 
the  occupation  and  source  of  maintenance  for  all  the  mem- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  59 

bers  of  tbe  family.  The  introduction  of  machinery  collected 
larger  numbers  under  one  roof,  but  they  were  always  the 
same  people,  and  always  working  the  same  materials.  Nor 
has  the  power  mill  changed  very  much  in  that  most  impor- 
tant part  of  manufacture — tbe  nature  of  the  workpeople. 
They  have  all  the  peculiar  fitness  resulting  from  heredity 
and  long  contact  with  the  industry  in  which  tbey  are  em- 
ployed. The  workers  in  the  Staffordshire  potteries  are  all 
Staffordshire  people.  They  all  talk  the  same  dialect  and 
have  the  same  interests.  One  does  not  find  many  that  are 
not  born  in  the  same  county.  The  cotton  mills  of  Lanca- 
shire are  all  peopled  by  Lancashire  people,  the  Yorkshire 
mills  by  Yorkshire  men  and  women,  and  so  on  in  all  the 
countries  of  Europe. 

Here,  in  America,  industrial  life  starts  from  entirely  oppo- 
site grounds.  We  have  no  house  industries  to  start  from. 
The  population  is  a  migratory  one.  Americans  seldom 
keep  to  one  industry  all  their  lifetime.  The  children  of 
Americans  hardly  ever  now  enter  factory  life.  The  factory 
is  started  on  an  artificial  basis  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  collection 
of  capital,  building  of  a  mill,  stocking  with  machinery,  and 
a  collecting  of  workpeople  from  wherever  they  can  be 
brought  together. 

While  the  American  system  has  its  great  advantages,  it 
has  certainly  its  disadvantages  equally  pronounced.  The 
highest  stage  of  development  in  the  productive  process, 
however,  has  been  reached  in  America.  Of  all  others,  the 
working  classes  are  benefited  by  this  industrial  develop- 
ment. The  conditions  of  the  working  classes  necessarily 
are  improved  by  every  progress  made  in  the  economy  of 
production.  Actual  wages  measured  by  their  purchasing 
power  rise  with  a  rise  in  the  productiveness  of  labor.  Where 
the  labor  processes  are  most  advanced  and  aided  by  science 


60  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

and  the  application  of  its  findings  and  discoveries  to  pro- 
duction, there,  naturally,  labor  is  most  productive,  and  the 
share  going  to  labor  for  its  remuneration  is  the  highest. 

The  labor  cost  bj  the  piece  is  reduced,  but  the  earnings 
of  the  laborer  are  increased,  bj  the  application  of  a  new 
invention.  ,The  quantity  produced  in  excess  of  the  quantity 
produced  by  the  former  process  must  be  large  enough  to 
outbalance  by  far  the  deficiency  caused  by  the  reduction  in 
the  piece  price.  The  introduction  of  machinery  or  any  im- 
proved method  in  place  of  an  old  one,  without  this  compen- 
sating result,  would  not  alone  find  serious  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  worker,  and  therefore  be  adopted  with  reluctance 
by  the  manufacturer,  but  the  manufacturer  himself  would 
otherwise  not  consider  the  inducement  sufficient  for  the 
capital  sacrifice  it  would  entail  on  him. 

The  working  classes,  however,  are  not  only  producers,  but 
consumers;  and  as  consumers  the  purchasing  power  of  their 
wages  is  of  equal  importance  to  them  as  their  rate  in  the  sense 
of  earnings.  Now,  every  improvement  in  the  method  of  pro- 
duction which  increases  productiveness  of  labor  not  only  leads 
to  higher  earnings,  but  also  to  a  cheapening  of  commodities. 
The  cheapening  of  products  means  nothing  less  than  making 
the  product  accessible  to  classes  of  the  population  who  had 
not  been  able  before  to  make  use  of  the  article  at  all,  or  in  a 
more  limited  way  than  they  would  and  could  under  new  and 
cheaper  processes  of  production. 

If  we  were  to  return  to-day  in  our  processes  of  manufact- 
ure and  production  to  the  economy  of  production  ruling  st 
hundred  years  ago  in  the  most  advanced  industrial  coun- 
tries, we  could  not  produce  one-fourth  of  the  goods  which 
now,  on  account  of  their  abundance,  have  become  necessa- 
ries of  life  of  our  people.  Their  price  would  be  so  high  that 
none  but  the  wealthy  could  afford  to  buy  them.    The  widen- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  61 

ing  of  markets,  the  necessary  aim  and  object  of  manufactur- 
ers, can  only  be  reached  therefore  by  a  cheapening,  which 
follows  improvement  in  the  economy  of  production.  The 
poorer  classes,  meaning  the  bulk  of  the  nation,  being  those 
where  an  increasing  ratio  of  absorption  is  almost  unlimited, 
are  therefore  necessarily  those  benefited  by  every  progress 
made.  The  inventor  and  employer  of  improvements  is 
by  necessity  compelled,  in  other  words,  to  carry  into  the 
humblest  home,  comforts  to  which  it  had  not  been  used 
before.  This  is,  so  to  speak,  an  automatic  process,  con- 
stantly going  on,  by  which  gradually  but  surely  the  progress 
in  the  economy  of  production  brings  comfort  and  well-being 
into  wider  and  wider  circles. 

The  Producer  and  Consumer  are  One.     Increasing 
Productiveness  is  Increasing  Consumptiveness. 

In  this  self-acting  principle  of  an  ever-ready  market 
opened  by  increasing  productiveness,  the  statement  quoted 
from  Ricardo,  and  on  which  the  general  theory  on  labor  and 
wages  criticised  above  is  based,  and  from  which  our  dreary 
labor  views  obtain  their  principal  support,  finds  its  pasy 
refutation.  The  four  coats  produced  with  the  same  amount 
of  work  which  was  formerly  required  to  produce  one  coat, 
have  to  be  consumed.  If  they  could  not  find  consumers, 
the  employer  of  the  machine  or  of  the  improvement  by 
whose  aid  the  plus-product  in  a  given  time  can  be  turned 
out,  would  not  go  to  the  expense  and  inconvenience  of  the 
change.  The  economic  inducement  would  be  wanting — the 
change  would  not  be  made.  But,  leaving  out  the  wealthy 
classes,  the  absorbing  power  of  the  people  is  in  an  increas- 
ing ratio  with  either  a  lowering  of  prices  of  commodities  at 
steady  wages,  or  with  rising  wages  and  steady  prices,  and. 


62  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

certainly,  as  the  practical  case  stands  now,  with  rising  wages 
and  declining  prices.  Either  one  or  the  other,  and,  as  we 
have  seen  in  our  own  time,  the  latter  case  results  from 
improvements  in  the  economy  of  production.  The  standard 
of  living  of  a  country  makes  the  general  rate  of  wages. 
From  reasons  given  above  (Chapter  II.),  the  standard  in 
America  being,  through  general  causes,  a  very  high  one, 
the  rate  of  wages  is  a  high  one.  The  absorbing  capacity  of 
the  people  is  the  only  limitation  of  market  to  which  the 
plus-product  is  subjected.  So  long  as  90  per  cent,  of  our 
population  have  to  support  families  on  incomes  below  $500 
a  year,*  it  is  self-evident  that  we  have  an  open  market  at 
our  immediate  doors  to  absorb  products  which  are  now  only 
accessible  to  that  class  of  the  population  which  lives  at  a 
somewhat  higher  rate  of  expenditure,  i.e.,  can  expend  a 
larger  amount  on  products  of  labor.  But  $500  expresses  a 
maximum  average  of  earnings.  A  very  large  half  of  our 
population  has  to  subsist,  with  a  family  group  of  three, f  on 
less  than  $400,  and  from  there  downwardly,  say  $300, 
another  large  class  have  to  subsist.  If  all  these  bread-win- 
ners could  be  made  to  live  on  $500  per  family  group,  by  a 
sudden  change  in  their  incomes,  there  would  be  a  market 
for  commodities  created  which  would  set  our  mills  and 
workshops  to  a  very  severe  test  of  ability  to  supply  the 
demand.  The  endeavor  to  obtain  the  highest  rate  of  wages 
ruling  in  the  country  and  the  industry,  and  the  other 
endeavor  of  the  working  classes  to  maintain  the  rate  of 
wages  once  reached,  are  not  stronger  ruling  economic  forces 
than  the  passion  of  man  to  obtain  as  high  a  rate  of  comfort 

*  For  detailed  statement  of  incomes  of  working  classes  see  Schoenhof, 
"  Industrial  Situation,"  Chap.  XII. 

f  This  is  based  on  the  table  of  "occupations,"  in  the  census,  where  one 
wage  earner  represents  three  heads  of  the  population. 


THE  EGONOMT  OF  IIIOU   WAGES.  63 

and  well-being  as  his  income,  under  due  provisions  for  the 
future,  will  allow  him  to  indulge  in. 

To  maintain  themselves  in  their  standard  of  life  has  given 
impulse  to  the  most  heroic  struggles  of  the  working  classes. 
They  have  sacrificed  immediate  well-being,  and  even  the 
wherewithals  to  maintain  themselves  and  their  children, 
rather  than  submit  to  wage  reductions  which,  in  their  views, 
threatened  a  reduction  in  the  standard  of  life. 

But  while  sacrifice  of  immediate  well-being  for  an  ulterior 
end  deserves  our  admiration,  from  the  point  of  view  gained 
so  far  by  our  inquiry  into  the  "  Economy  of  High  Wages," 
it  will  be  seen  that,  economically,  these  acts  speak  of  a  high 
degree  of  wisdom.  On  the  other  hand  the  attempts  of  the 
employing  classes  to  depress  the  rate  of  wages  show  fre- 
quently an  entire  misapprehension  of  the  principles  under 
which  production  is  conducted.  Most  of  the  strife  would 
disappear  if  it  were  more  fully  recognized  that  a  high  rate 
of  wages  has  all  the  time  been  the  powerful  lever  to  reach- 
ing the  low  cost  of  production  which  practically  rules  to-day 
in  the  industries  of  the  United  States. 

The  Economic  Value  of  High  Wages    generally 
not  Understood. 

A  high  rate  of  wages  expresses  a  high  rate  of  productive- 
ness, and  its  converse  a  high  consuming  power.  A  relatively 
high  consuming  power,  high  standard  of  living,  is  required 
to  make  the  laborer  efficient,  strong  in  body  and  in  mind. 
Without  this,  labor  remains  economically  more  or  less  ster- 
ile, for  which  an  adequate  proof  will  be  given  in  the  further 
progress  of  this  work,  treating  the  industries  of  the  country 
seriatim.  Employers  can  therefore  under  no  possibility  lose 
where  a  permanently  high  rate  of  wages  rules.   They  cannot 


64  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

possibly  lose  under  a  rising  rate  of  wages  even,  as  a  rise  in 
actual  wages  is  only  possible  with  a  rise  of  the  productive 
power  of  labor.  A  higher  rate  of  wages  than  the  one  of  a 
previous  period  simply  registers  the  change  which  has  gone 
on  in  the  direction  of  improvement  in  the  economy  of  pro- 
duction. But,  instead  of  being  injured,  the  employer  gains 
positively  by  the  rise  in  the  standard  of  wages  through  the  in- 
creasing demand  thereby  created  for  the  increasing  product. 
The  demand  for  this  plus-product  can  come  from  the  labor- 
ing classes  only,  the  wage  earners,  and  the  people  of  small 
incomes.  The  well-to-do  are  numerically  not  a  large  class. 
Considerably  less  than  one-tenth  of  our  population  would 
cover  them.  Of  them,  however,  it  can  be  said  that  they 
would  not  increase  their  rate  of  consumption  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  either  from  a  cheapening  of  prices  or  an 
increase  in  income.  It  is  therefore  of  the  working-classes 
alone,  that  a  market  for  the  plus-product  can  be  expected. 
Of  course,  I  include  here  the  farmer  who  tills  his  farm 
without  the  aid  of  hired  help,  except  at  harvesting.  With 
all  of  these  a  rise  in  income  means  an  increased  consump- 
tion of  commodities. 

Everything  in  the  wide  field  of  economic  phenomena 
tending  to  show  the  benefits  arising  to  the  employing 
classes  of  a  high  rate  of  wages,  it  is  not  a  little  astonishing 
that  such  constant  repressing  force  should  be  employed  to 
oppose  a  rise  in  wages.  In  the  lower  wage  countries  this 
tendency  exerts  itself  the  strongest.  In  Germany,  we  find 
in  mills  a  certain  maximum  day  rate  fixed.  This  is  fixing 
the  piece  rate  on  the  time  wage  basis.  The  workers  to  earn 
this  rate  have  to  turn  out  a  fixed  quantity.  If  they  do  less, 
proportionate  deductions  are  made.  Under  more  encour- 
aging aspects  they  could  produce  greatly  more.  But  not 
receiving    the   benefit  out  of    the   plus-product   which   is 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  65 

clearly  due  them,  but  on  the  contrary  knowing  that  a 
greater  quantity  of  work  done  would  lead  to  a  reduction 
of  rates  or  increase  of  the  ratio  of  output  for  the  day  rate 
fixed,  they  certainly  in  return  make  an  economic  use  of 
their  only  salable  commodity:  their  working  power,  vital 
power,  which  the  employer  considers  himself  not  concerned 
to  replenish. 

Many  manufacturers  in  Germany  expressed  themselves  to 
me  in  deploring  terms  of  this  state  of  aJffairs.  They  were 
wise  enough  to  see  that  this  short-sighted  policy  is  the  chief 
cause  of  Germany's  low  productiveness  of  labor.  Those 
following  an  opposite  policy  had  most  satisfactory  results. 
"  They  don't  eat  and  don't  work,"  said  a  shoe  manufacturer 
of  Vienna,  when  we  compared  notes  on  the  productiveness 
of  Austrian  and  German  labor  and  of  American  labor. 
"Bread  and  beer-swilling  and  an  occasional  bit  of  sausage 
cannot  give  strength  sufficient  to  compete  with  you." 

It  is  then  clearly  evident  that  there  is  no  greater  fallacy 
than  the  doctrine  that  a  low  rate  of  wages  is  necessary  to  in- 
sure a  low  cost  of  production.  In  fact,  the  opposite  is  shown 
to  be  the  true  principle  upon  which  the  productive  processes 
of  nations  rest.  Yet,  how  far  are  we  still  from  recognizing 
this  redeeming  fact?  The  whole  armature  of  possession, 
governments,  and  the  schools  of  learning,  were  put  into 
active  service  to  defeat  the  attempts  of  the  working-classes 
at  bettering  their  position ;  to  wit :  increasing  the  rate  of 
wages  to  enable  the  buying  of  sufficient  food  to  replace  the 
wear  and  tear  of  tissue.  In  England  this  was  the  condition 
in  the  first  half  of  the  century.  It  is  the  condition  of  the 
continent  at  the  end  of  the  century.  The  improvements  in 
the  condition  of  labor  are  due  to  this,  that  the  working 
classes  were  in  a  position  that  they  could  wrench  from 
the  privileged  classes  the  necessary  concessions  which  alone 
5 


66  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES. 

could  enable  them  to  reach  the  position  which  they  occupy 
to-day.  This  fortunate  position  is  the  only  vantage 
ground  which  England  possesses  and  which  secures  to  her 
the  safe  and  undisputable  rulership  of  the  commerce  of  the 
world.  Reluctantly,  sullenly  even,  the  employing  classes 
there,  acquiesce  in  the  new  development.  By  education  and 
association  they  are  made  to  still  cherish  the  belief,  despite 
the  world-facts  surrounding  them,  that  a  low  rate  of  wages 
is  necessary  to  a  low  cost  of  production.  The  growing  tide 
of  democracy  in  England  can  afford  to  laugh  at  an  occa- 
sional outbreak  of  rhetoric  repression.  It  is  not  dangerous 
there,  this  sort  of  atavism. 

But  not  so  on  the  continent  There  the  governments  are 
still  the  willing  instruments.  Recent  years  have  brought  so 
many  examples,  that  we  need  not  fear  contradiction  when 
we  say  that  the  repression  of  the  working-classes  is  still  con- 
sidered to  be  one  of  the  functions  of  governments.  The 
more  or  less  active  interference  of  the  military  forces  depends 
simply  on  the  more  or  less  extensive  or  intensive  mode  of 
protest  of  the  working-classes  against  the  old,  incarnate  labor 
theories,  so  destructive  to  the  countries  where  they  prevail 
and  guide  the  economy  of  production. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Efficiency  and  Productiveness  of  Labor  increasedby  Education.— The 
Ideal  Part  iu  Production. — Change  of  Sentiment  in  Europe. — Aid 
given  by  Art  Instruction  to  Industries. — The  Effect  on  English  In- 
dustries.— The  French  System  of  Education  directed  to  Industrial 
Ends. — The  Industrial  Help  of  Art  Museums. 

Cheap  Labor  and  Ignorant   Labor   Synonymous. 

Pernicious  as  the  labor  views  just  treated  were,  and  little 
calculated  to  reach  the  end  at  which  they  aimed,  the  ideas 
prevailing  in  regard  to  the  intellectual  outfit  of  the  laborer 
were  still  worse.  They  were  a  necessary  sequence  of  the 
low  wage  theory.  Given  the  one,  the  other  must  follow. 
A  plentiful  supply  of  cheap  labor  can  only  be  secured  by 
depriving  the  laborer  of  all  means  of  cultivating  his  mind. 
If  he  becomes  intellectually  improved  and  instructed  he  will 
become  restive,  dissatisfied,  and  ask  higher  and  higher 
wages.  This  can  be  avoided  only  by  reserving  the  educa- 
tional facilities  of  the  age  to  the  privileged  few. 

In  England,  especially,  the  battle  fought  against  educa- 
tion of  the  working  classes  was  a  long  and  bitter  one. 
Manufacturers  held,  and  I  have  met  not  a  few  who  still  hold, 
to  the  creed  that  labor  would  be  the  more  satisfactory  the 
less  it  knew,  outside  of  the  work  in  which  it  was  employed. 
Starting  on  this  doctrine,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  intro- 
duction of  common  schools  was  opposed  by  the  employing 
classes  with  a  vehemence  reminding  us  of  the  Dark  Ages. 
The  science  and  art  schools  are  frequently  spoken  of  as 


68  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

instruments  for  spoiling  good  material,  not  alone  in  Eng- 
land. Though  these  voices  are  isolated,  jet  they  are  echoes 
from  a  not  distant  past,  when  thej  expressed  the  opinions 
of  the  employing  classes  generally. 

These  crude  opinions  are  making  room  for  more  enlight- 
ened views  since  experience  has  taught  a  different  lesson. 
Countries  more  backward  in  industrial  competition  were 
soon  to  make  rapid  strides  toward  gaining  trade  which 
English  manufacturers  were  in  the  habit  of  considering 
their  own  heirloom.  If  anything,  a  loss  of  trade  is  an  eye- 
opener  in  England.  This  successful  competition  was  recog- 
nized by  England  as  well  as  by  France  to  be  due  to  a  more 
thorough  teaching  in  science  and  art  schools,  especially 
in  Germany,  and  the  wider  dissemination  of  knowledge 
among  the  German  working  classes.  Now,  of  course,  a 
different  spirit  is  beginning  to  manifest  itself  in  England  and 
in  France,  the  two  countries  where  the  introduction  of  more 
enlightened  systems  was  opposed  most  bitterly  by  class 
interests. 

As  I  have  shown  in  my  report  on  industrial  education  in 
France*  the  system  of  education  introduced  into  and  now 
extending  over  the  whole  country  is  based  on  the  most 
enlightened  and  comprehensive  theories  of  education.  The 
end  in  view  is  to  give  to  the  people,  the  poorest  included, 
all  the  advantages  of  mental,  manual,  and  technical  training 
that  can  be  given  in  the  school  years  up  to  the  age  of  fourteen, 
and  as  much  supplementary  education  as  may  be  needed 
and  desired  by  the  youth  of  both  sexes  for  special  pursuits. 
As  a  practical  educational  system,  with  the  object  of 
making  efficient  workers,  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  else- 
where a  system  of  education  equal  to  that  of  France.     Eng- 

*  Technical  Education  in  Europe.  Department  of  State,  Washington, 
D.  C.  (1888.)    Part  I.     Industrial  Education  in  France. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  RIOH  WAGES.  69 

land,  in  its  Technical  Education  Act  passed  two  years  ago, 
has  laid  the  seeds  for  a  most  thorough  reform  in  school 
education  on  as  wide  a  basis  as  that  of  France. 

In  theory,  at  least,  it  is  now  everywhere  conceded  that 
the  efficiency  of  the  workpeople  grows  in  proportion  to 
their  intellectual  advancement.  All  the  ages  behind  us 
have  historically  demonstrated  this  as  a  fact.  But  it  is 
well  known  that  facts  were  not  always  by  deductive  politi- 
cal economy  considered  a  necessary  ground  for  theories  to 
stand  on.  If  the  facts  contradict  the  theory,  "so  much 
the  worse  for  the  facts." 

The  brightness  and  quickness  of  youths  who  had  gone 
through  the  schools,  in  the  manufacturing  districts  of  Eng- 
land, contrasted  very  favorably  with  the  dulness  of  many 
of  the  adults  who  had  none  of  the  advantages  of  the 
younger  generation.  With  the  advantages  which  the  in- 
dustrial nations  of  Europe  possess  in  the  hereditary  skill 
of  their  working  classes  in  a  variety  of  special  industries, 
over  America,  and  with  a  dissemination  of  knowledge  and 
education  among  them,  they  occupy  a  very  strong  vantage 
ground.  Europe  is  now  full  of  the  eagerness  of  nations  not 
to  be  outdone  by  competitors  in  the  establishment  of  such 
educational  advantages  as  give  the  greatest  facilities  for  the 
development  and  strengthening  of  industries. 

The  Ideal  Part  in  the  Economy  of  Production. 

The  ideal  part  relates  not  alone  to  the  intellectual  outfit 
of  the  laborer,  but  also  to  all  the  intellectual  forces  set  to 
work  in  the  creating  of  the  huge  productive  machinery  of 
the  age. 

For  the  full  understanding  of  our  problem  we  must 
separate   industries   into  two   classes :    Those    relating   to 


70  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

finished  products,  articles  of  use  and  fashion,  and  the 
cruder  manufactures.  In  the  former,  art  is  the  great 
teacher  ;  in  the  latter,  science. 

First,  art  teaching.  Here  England  has  been  th.e  first  to 
recognize  the  importance  of  a  national  system  of  industrial 
art  education.  Experience  of  a  disappointing  nature  has 
given  the  impulse  to  the  creation  of  a  system  which  has 
undoubtedly  borne  excellent  fruit. 

The  Universal  Exhibition  of  1851  showed  to  the  Eng- 
lish how  poor  and  tasteless  in  design  and  color  many  of 
their  industrial  productions  were,  as  compared  with  those 
of  France.  Far-seeing  and  leading  statesmen  recognized 
the  necessity  of  action  in  order  to  insure  the  full  main- 
tenance of  the  position  of  Great  Britain  in  the  world  of 
trade  and  manufacture.  To  this  the  science  and  art 
department  of  South  Kensington  owes  its  origin.  Art 
schools  are  now  distributed  all  over  the  industrial  centres 
of  the  United  Kingdom.  They  produce  good  draughtsmen, 
designers,  modelers,  etc.  To  my  mind,  however,  the  sys- 
tem needs  remodeling,  and  requires  more  independence  of 
teaching  in  the  different  centres.  All  the  work  of  the  dif- 
ferent schools  bears  one  and  the  same  imprint,  that  of  South 
Kensington.  It  is  too  much  after  the  same  pattern,  not 
enough  scope  being  given  to  individuality  and  to  the  per- 
sonal intuition  of  the  art  master  as  well  as  of  the  pupil.  The 
paying  by  results  is  held  by  many  to  make  the  masters  too 
anxious  for  drilling  and  getting  prizes. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  the  schools  undoubtedly  benefit  the 
decorative  industries.  The  pottery,  metal,  and  glass  in- 
dustries, in  their  continued  ascendency  over  their  Conti- 
nental competitors,  would  alone  speak  favorably  for  the 
schools.  The  mere  fact  that  Continental  competitors  copy 
so  much  from  English  pottery  and  reproduce  the  richer 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  7^ 

■work  oi  English  origin  in  cheaper  production,  not  by  any 
means  through  their  cheaper  labor,  but  mostly  by  following 
the  same  design,  leaving  out  a  great  deal  of  the  richer  work, 
however,  gives  a  silent  but  eloquent  acknowledgment  of  the 
superiority  of  English  work  and  taste  in  this  branch  of  in- 
dustry. The  English  take  talent  from  wherever  they  can 
get  it  when  they  find  it  superior  to  the  national  product. 
Native  talent,  however,  is  coming  more  and  more  to  the 
fore.  A  few  of  the  leading  art  potteries  and  other  art 
industries  employ  French  directors.  Foreign  talent  is  un- 
doubtedly attracted  by  the  high  pay  which  the  English  are 
always  ready  to  give  to  superior  skill  and  talent,  but  it 
plays  no  important  part.  Native  talent  in  pottery,  paint- 
ing, modeling,  cameo-cutting,  in  glass,  and  in  metal  chasing 
produces  work  in  design  and  execution  inferior  to  none  of 
France. 

The  Eoyal  Worcester  factory's  work  ranks  with  the 
highest.  If  imitation  is  the  highest  kind  of  flattery  the 
homage  paid  to  this  remarkable  firm  is  certainly  the  great- 
est acknowledgment  of  its  superiority.  Yet,  as  I  have 
been  assured  by  the  director  and  principal  owner  of  the 
factory,  they  educate  all  their  artists  themselves.  The 
director  showed  me,  however,  very  costly  pieces  in  their 
museum,  which  they  buy  regardless  of  price  if  they  con- 
tain elements  which,  either  by  their  originality  or  beauty 
of  composition,  color  effect,  etc.,  they  can  make  useful  in 
their  own  work.  They  do  not  shrink  from  spending  hun- 
dreds of  pounds  for  objects  small  in  size,  but  full  of  leading 
ideas.  A  very  small  Japanese  vase  was  shown  me,  picked 
up  in  1876  in  Philadelphia,  for  which  an  extraordinary 
price  had  been  paid,  by  which,  it  appeared  to  me,  many  of 
the  Eoyal  Worcester  ideas  must  have  been  suggested. 

The  Philadelphia   Exhibition  of   1876   showed   us   the 


72  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

greatness  of  Japan  as  an  industrial  art  country.  In  Amer- 
ica articles  of  commerce  of  Japanese  art  are  only  cheaper 
specimens,  selected  with  a  consciousness  of  the  high-tariff 
duties  to  which  they  are  subjected  when  they  enter  this 
countrj'-.  The  Paris  Exhibition  of  1889  was  full  of  pieces 
which  the  trade  of  England  even,  free  of  any  tariff  charges, 
would  be  afraid  of  handling.  They  gave  an  idea  of  the 
capacity  of  that  wonderful  people  for  art  work.  There  is 
object  teaching  ready  for  every  one  able  to  understand  and 
profit  by  it 

Teaching  Industrial  Art. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  everybody  will  understand  that 
when  I  lay  such  importance  upon  industrial  art  teaching  I 
do  not  mean  that  it  is  only  the  regular  school  which  can  give 
it  The  school  is  only  one  of  the  many  methods  open  for 
teaching.  If  art  taught  in  schools  connected  with  facto- 
ries like  that  at  Sevres,  the  Eoyal  Worcester,  etc.,  makes 
the  future  workman  more  proficient  in  his  special  branch 
than  in  the  special  school,  this  mode  of  teaching  is  only 
substituting  one  for  another.  A  proper  teaching  in  well- 
organized  schools,  however,  gives  undoubtedly  a  broader 
foundation. 

Industrial  art  schools  abound  especially  in  Germany. 
The  World's  Exhibition  of  1876  in  Philadelphia  did  much 
in  opening  the  eyes  of  governments  and  industrial  insti- 
tutions in  Germany  by  impressing  them  with  the  poverty 
of  their  productions  compared  with  those  of  other  nations. 
Great  support  has  been  given  since  to  industrial  art  schools 
and  technical  schools,  with  a  view  to  giving  much-needed 
help  to  industries.  The  graphic  arts  especially  have  found 
great  development  through  the  influence  of  industrial  art 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  73 

schools.  In  ornamentation,  design,  color,  and  general  out- 
side appearance,  thej  have  made  great  progress.  This 
shows  in  the  pressure  which  they  have  been  exercising  on 
foreign  competitors  in  neutral  countries,  especially  on  the 
English.  The  intrinsic  value  and  quality  of  their  products, 
however,  have  not  improved  equally.  It  is  undoubtedly 
due  to  this  inferiority  in  quality  that  they  not  infrequently 
lose  position  in  foreign  markets.  What  progress  Germany 
does  make,  however,  is,  more  than  progress  anywhere  else, 
traceable  to  the  influence  of  the  art  and  technical  school, 
especially  in  color  and  chemical  industries. 

Some  of  the  schools,  like  that  at  Crefeld,  show  remark- 
able completeness  of  organization,  teaching  all  the  elements 
of  production  in  that  most  complex  of  all  industries,  the 
manufacture  of  silk.  Schools  of  this  character  would  be  of 
the  highest  value  to  America,  where  industries  are  a  matter 
of  creation,  and  not  of  gradual  growth  and  development,  as 
in  Germany  and  the  industrial  countries  of  Europe,  and 
therefore  only  the  more  needful. 

In  France,  art  teaching  as  an  organized  course  in  public 
instruction  is  of  recent  times.  The  inherent  artistic  feeling 
of  the  French  was  considered  a  sufficient  fund  to  draw  from. 
The  teachers  and  directors  of  art  schools  in  Germany  are  to 
the  present  day  fully  conscious  of  this  superiority  in  the 
French,  and  readily  acknowledge  it.  The  natural  sense  of 
taste  shows  so  prominently  in  all  articles  of  French  origin, 
that  little  need  be  said  on  the  subject.  Still,  with  all  this 
natural  advantage,  thorough  art  teaching  in  all  branches  of  the 
industrial  arts, wherever  it  can  give  additional  impetus,  has 
been  considered  necessary  by  those  shaping  the  destinies 
of  France.  A  course  of  art  teaching  has  been  estab- 
lished which  could  not  be  broader,  covering  the  whole 
system  of  public  instruction,  nor  higher  in  its  reach,  as  it 


74  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

ultimately  connects  with  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts,  the 
crowning  edifice.  At  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1889  the 
exhibits  clearly  showed  to  any  one  following  the  industrial 
development  of  nations  the  great  help  which  the  schools 
have  given  the  industries  of  France. 

The  exhibits  at  the  Exposition  of  the  different  art  schools, 
which  I  visited  in  1887,  were  especially  gratifying  from  the 
industrial  point  of  view,  giving  a  clear  indication  of  what 
class  of  workers  would  soon  be  spread  over  the  industries 
affected  thereby.  Gn  the  whole  I  found  industrial  art 
teaching  in  France  more  satisfactory  than  anywhere  else,  in- 
asmuch as  there  is  not  the  gulf  between  what  is  generally 
called  real  art  and  industrial  art. 

No  nation  understands  so  well  as  France,  that  art  in  its 
highest  productions  is  but  speaking  the  language  of  the 
people.  The  greater  the  art,  the  more  direct  and  eloquent  the 
appeal  to  the  common  understanding.  The  greater  the  art, 
the  truer  to  nature.  Hence,  a  saturation  of  industrial  pro- 
duction with  the  true  spirit  of  art  cannot  have  any  but  the 
most  salutary  practical  results.  The  more  this  quality  be- 
comes part  of  industrial  productions  accessible  to  the  masses 
of  the  people,  the  more  extended  the  markets,  of  course. 
And  so  it  follows,  that  though  the  cost  of  production  need 
not  be  enhanced,  the  benefits  and  profits  to  industries  must 
grow  with  an  extension  of  art  teaching  and  artistic  feeling  to 
all  classes  engaged  in  production  appealing  to  taste. 

The  Industrial  Art  Museum. 

The  superior  advantages  given  to  the  industrial  countries 
of  Europe  and  the  workers  engaged  in  these  industries, 
which  we  may  class,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  under  the 
general  name  of  taste  industries,  are  by  no  means  limited  to 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  75 

hereditary  skill,  natural  taste,  and  art  teaching.  The  culti- 
vation of  taste  by  the  sight  of  beautiful  objects,  the  special 
productions  of  different  countries,  is  certainly  a  great  help 
in  raising  the  art  standard  of  a  nation.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  high  perfection  in  industrial  art  works  of  the 
German  master  craftsmen  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies was  due  to  the  custom  of  making  it  a  condition  for 
admission  into  the  craft  that  every  /3raftsman  applying  for 
his  diploma  of  mastership  should  have  spent  some  years 
away  from  home  and  in  foreign  travel.  The  workingman 
travelled  from  place  to  place,  and  frequently  visited  far  dis- 
tant countries.  This  custom  prevailed  up  to  recent  times, 
being  still  in  vogue  within  my  own  recollection.  I  remem- 
ber the  familiar  figure,  knapsack  on  back,  stick  in  hand, 
tramping  the  highroad  from  town  to  town. 

The  workingraan's  tramping  it  certainly  did  not  detract 
from  his  ability  to  take  in  the  varying  aspects  and  impres- 
sions of  different  countries.  The  trades  then  were,  however, 
conducted  on  different  principles  from  the  modern  idea  and 
the  factory  system.  The  master  workman  had  to  be  master 
of  all  the  parts  belonging  to  his  craft.  The  builder  was  not 
only  a  bricklayer  or  mason,  but  also  skilled  in  the  art  of 
drawing  his  plans  and  doing  practically  what  a  modern 
architect  does  to-day ;  the  same  with  the  cabinetmaker,  the 
weaver,  the  worker  in  textiles  and  metals,  etc. 

By  the  modern  system  of  division  of  labor,  much  of  the 
task  is  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  individual  worker  and 
given  to  special  hands ;  still  there  is  no  doubt  that  even 
work  so  subdivided  will  be  benefited  if  the  worker  doing 
only  a  part  in  the  whole  possesses  trained  skill  and  developed 
taste.  The  printer  in  calico  print  works  does  not  make  the 
design,  but  if  he  has  no  eye  for  the  harmony  of  color  he  is 
very  apt  to  spoil  a  good  pattern. 


76  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Now  craftsmen  can  no  more  take  their  lessons  from  travel 
in  foreign  countries.  The  importance  of  having  the  great 
storehouses  of  the  past  and  present  open  has,  however,  been 
recognized,  and  art  industrial  museums  have  been  created 
which  offer  an  always-readv  opportunity  to  everybody  who 
wants  to  cultivate  his  taste  and  enlarge  his  ideas. 

Here,  again,  England  has  been  a  leader,  followed  now 
by  almost  every  nation  of  an  industrial  character  except 
America.  The  South  Kensington  Museum  contains  treasures 
in  every  conceivable  branch  of  industry,  collected  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  leading  us  back  to  remotest  times. 
Every  industrial  centre  in  England  has  an  art  museum  of  its 
own,  to  which  South  Kensington  periodically  sends  exhibits 
from  its  vast  stores,  which  loans  are  replaced  from  time  to 
time.  The  South  Kensington  Museum,  with  its  numerous 
branches  and  its  whole  organization,  is  a  result  of  the  Exhi- 
bition of  1851.  Being  first  in  the  field  as  a  collector  from 
old  treasures  stored  up  in  palaces,  monasteries,  and  in  the 
hands  of  private  collectors,  its  task  was  an  easier  one  than 
that  of  its  imitators. 

It  does  not  belong  to  my  present  task  to  d.escribe  in  detail 
these  vast  collections.  Still,  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention 
to  specimens  of  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  industrial  art,  to 
show  what  treatment  was  given  it  by  the  ancients,  to  the 
collection  of  Tanagra  figures  in  South  Kensington  and  the 
British  Museum.  A  figure  of  a  reclining  lady,  four  inches 
by  eight  and  six  inches  high,  was  paid  for  at  the  price 
of  £270  10s,  The  inimitable  ease  of  pose,  the  grace  and 
beauty  of  the  figure,  brought  out  even  more  by  the  charm- 
ing arrangement  of  the  drapery,  which  the  Greeks  employ 
to  cover  the  nude  form,  not  to  conceal  it,  make  the  impres- 
sion that  such  treasures  are  well  acquired  at  any  cost,  though 
they  be  terra-cottas  and  produced  in  quantities  as  articles  of 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  77 

trade  and  manufacture  by  the  potters  of  Tanagra.  Indeed, 
we  see  in  the  British  Museum  the  moulds  in  winch  thej  were 
cast  and  a  partly-finished  model,  part  of  the  nude  not  yet 
covered  by  drapery. 

Another  specimen  of  ancient  art  may  be  mentioned  here. 
It  is  the  most  expressive  lesson  extant  of  the  highest  per- 
fection in  what  we  should  call  to-day  industrial'art  objects. 
I  speak  of  the  famous  Portland  Vase.  It  is  the  greatest 
masterpiece  of  its  kind,  and  is  fitly  placed  in  the  gem  room 
of  the  British  Museum.  It  is  made  of  two  layers  of  glass* 
The  lower  layer,  forming  the  body  of  the  urn,  is  of  black ; 
the  top  layer,  of  white  glass.  By  cutting  away  the  upper 
part,  enough  is  made  to  remain  to  make  the  design,  as  in  all 
cameo  cutting.  The  difficulties  of  the  task  are  very  great. 
The  Webbs,  of  Stourbridge,  who  have  made  a  specialty  of 
cameo  plaques,  and  produce  beautiful  pieces  on  this  prin- 
ciple at  a  value  of  a  hundred  guineas  and  upwards, 
showed  me  a  piece  which  cracked  in  the  hands  of  the  artist 
when  only  a  few  hours  more  work  was  required  for  com- 
pletion. The  bringing  out  of  the  design  depends  on  the 
darker  or  lighter  tones.  These  are  produced  by  the  cutting 
away  of  more  or  less  of  the  white  substance.  Now,  mis- 
takes cannot  be  remedied  as  when  the  matter  is  only  laid  on 
as  in  paste-on-paste  decorations  in  pottery.  If  the  technique 
offers  great  difficulties  in  a  plaque,  a  flat  surface  of  the  size 
of  a  dinner-plate,  how  much  more  in  a  round  body  like  a 
vase!  Yet  the  figures  of  gods  and  mortals  actually  live  and 
speak.  Posture  and  bodily  perfection  would  do  high  honor 
to  the  greatest  sculptors  of  modern  times.  The  limbs  show 
that  they  are  meant  to  do  service  on  earth ;  that  even  if 
some  of  the  people  represented  are  used  to  living  in  am- 
brosial heights  part  of  their  time,  their  feet  and  ankles  are 
in  proportion  and  fit  for  use  among  mortals. 


78  THE  EOONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

In  the  work  of  Sevres  and  of  Mintons'  in  Stoke  we  see 
still  too  much  of  a  pandering  to  a  taste  which  runs  more  after 
an  imaginary  than  the  real  type  of  the  beautiful.  In  ancient 
plastique  art  we  see  the  best  living  models  reproduced ;  in 
the  modern  we  see*them  "improved"   and    "idealized."* 

*  How  the  "  improver  "  and  "  idealizer  "  is  equipped  for  his  ambitious 
task  is  apparent  from  the  many  examples  of  his  skill,  which  he  has 
seen  fit  to  place  along  with  the  specimens  of  ancient  art  which  have 
received  his  attentions  in  the  restorations.  They  fill  all  the  museums  of 
Europe.  The  forms  of  gods,  heroes,  and  mortals  are  made  grotesque  by 
fhe  additions  of  arms,  hands,  and  feet  evidently  stolen  from  some  clumsy 
clown  of  awkward  manners  and  appearance.  They  had  even  attempted 
to  restore  the  holy  lady  of  Milo,  the  goddess  of  incomparable  hauteur  and 
loveliness,  of  unsurpassable  lines  and  forms.  The  artists  who  attempted 
the  work  were  unable  to  come  within  an  approach  to  the  task.  The 
age  seems  at  least  to  have  reached  a  first  step  to  progress,  a  conscious- 
ness of  its  incapacity,  and  so  the  restorations  were  removed  and  the  foam- 
born  Aphrodite  stands  to  this  day,  in  her  solitary  retreat  in  the  Louvre, 
without  arms  and  without  her  left  forefoot,  and  without  toes  to  her 
right  foot.  More  fortunate  than  her  brother  of  Belvedere,  though  muti- 
lated, she  will  never  be  an  object  of  derision  should  the  gods  ever  return 
from  their  exile  among  the  barbarians,  who  have  gone  so  far  as  even  to 
scrape  the  classic  forms  and  thereby  destroy  their  beauty  forever. 

But  the  most  astonishing  example  we  find  in  two  statues  in  the 
Louvre — two  statues  called  "Venus  Accroupies."  The  one  was  found  at 
Vienne,  and  the  other  at  Tyre.  Though  sepulchered  at  distant  places, 
they  were  evidently  twin  sisters,  exact  likenesses  of  one  another  in  size, 
pose,  and  character.  The  one  was  found  in  a  perfect  state  of  preserva- 
tion, the  other  only  the  upper  part  of  the  body  including  the  hips. 
The  missing  lower  body  had  to  be  restored  by  the  artist,  equipped  with 
all  the  art  cunning  of  his  craft.  The  restoration  stands  an  eloquent 
admission  of  "  non  possumus.  "  At  about  thirty  feet  distance  from  the 
complete  classic  work  stands  this  half-classic,  half-modern  work  of  art,  a 
sort  of  hermaphrodite,  because  the  upper  part  is  that  of  lovely  woman- 
hood, the  lower  seems  to  belong  to  one  of  the  more  massive,  coarser  sex. 
Aside  from  the  absence  of  the  fine  accentuations  in  lines,  which  make 
classic  statuary  so  wonderfully  alive,  this  restoration,  with  the  original 
actually  completed  before  the  restorer's  eye,  is  in  dimensions  of  a  body 
twice  the  weight  of  its  upper  part.     The  statue  restored  is  a  standing 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  79 

Therefore,  a  return  to  classic  art  means  a  return  to  nature 
and  its  never-closed  storehouse  of  information. 

These  few  types  show  us  how  the  ancients  regarded 
"  industrial  art." 

We  cannot  go  astray  if  we  follow  closely  in  the  track 
cut  out  for  us. 

From  my  observations  I  carried  away  one  general  im- 
pression, the  expression  of  which  will  not  be  out  of  place 
here  :  that,  at  least  in  the  aesthetic  side  of  industrial  art, 
tlie  present,  no  matter  where,  with  all  its  unbounded  aux- 
iliaries, has  no  standing  before  its  ancient  teachers.  The 
skilled  weaver  who  makes  his  own  design  and  dyes  his 
own  colors  is  not  reached  by  all  the  complexity  of  modern 
textile  industry.  The  illuminations  in  the  old  missals  of 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  show  a  delicacy  and 
richness  of  tints  which  after  five  and  six  centuries  have 
more  wealth  of  color  than  if  products  of  yesterday.  While 
the  wall  paintings  of  Pompeii  and  Egypt,  not  to  speak  of 
those  of  the  Renaissance,  live  to  the  present  day,  the  fres- 
cos of  the  Maximilianaeum  in  Munich,  hardly  forty  years 
old,  have  already  crumbled  away. 

The  most  remarkable  work  of  graphic  art  is  the  Book 
of  Kells  in  the  National  Library  at  Dublin.  This  is  a  work 
of  about  the  seventh  or  eighth  century  of  our  era,  a  time 
when  all  Western  Europe  was  still  steeped  in  barbarism. 
The  delicacy  of  colors,  the  treatment  of  concentric  lines, 
the  general  harmony,  give  the  illuminations  an  ornamental 
effect  unexcelled  in  any  period  or  any  country. 

Nowhere,  however,  have  I  found  a  museum  as  an  aid  to 

accusation  that  our  age  has  lost,  or,  perhaps,  not  recovered  the  correct 
vision  which  antiquity  possessed  and  which  enabled  it  to  produce  master- 
pieces in  the  workshop,  perhaps,  where  the  atelier  and  the  studio  stand 
aside  in  dull  mediocrity. 


80  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQE  WAGES. 

the  development  of  a  special  industry  so  complete  as  the 
industrial  museum  at  Lyons,  of  which  I  have  given  a  full 
description  in  my  "  Report  on  Industrial  Education  in 
France."  Here,  also,  the  remoter  period  shows  the  greater 
wealth  and  warmth  in  color  and  design.  There  we  see  all 
the  greatness  of  the  Venetians  of  the  thirteenth  century 
mirrored  in  their  silks  and  velvets,  as  we  see  it  in  South 
Kensington  and  elsewhere  in  their  ancient  glassware.  We 
understand  why  they  prohibited  their  craftsmen  from  going 
abroad,  why  they  made  hostages  of  the  relatives  of  these 
craftsmen,  even  to  the  penalty  of  death,  if  they  did  not 
return  within  a  given  time. 

In  the  aesthetic  part  of  art  indastries  we  have  a  great  deal 
to  learn ;  we  find,  when  examining  the  treasures  of  these 
museums,  very  little  to  be  proud  of  in  our  own  achieve- 
ments. In  Germany  and  Austria  almost  every  town  has 
its  museum,  many  of  them  organized  with  a  view  to  help- 
ing existing  industries.  They  are,  however,  on  a  smaller 
basis  than  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  but  are  all  excel- 
lent in  their  way.  Yet  being  new,  supplied  only  with  lim- 
ited funds  and  largely  dependent  on  aid  given  by  private 
individuals,  they  cannot,  of  course,  be  put  in  the  same 
category  with  their  English  prototype. 

In  addition  to  the  objects  exhibited  in  these  museums, 
the  art  libraries  attached  to  them  are  of  great  usefulness. 
These  libraries  are  open  to  everj^body,  and  contain  almost 
every  known  work  relating  to  industrial  art.  Their  port- 
folios are  full  of  designs  and  reproductions  of  artistic  work. 
In  this  manner  a  constantly  flowing  source  is  open,  from 
which  those  interested  can  take  refreshing  draughts. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Science  and  Art  powerful  Factors  in  the  Economy  of  Production. — 
Cheapening  of  Price. — Influence  of  Science  Schools. — Technical 
Training. — Art  and  Technical  Schools  greatly  needed  in  the  United 
States. — Scientific  Methods  are  quickly  adopted. — American  Invent- 
ors easily  lead  the  World  in  improYing  Mechanical  Appliances  and 
are  ably  assisted  by  the  Workmen  who  handle  the  Machines,  but 
the  Chemists  of  this  Country  are  far  behind  those  of  Europe. — 
Cheapening  the  Cost  of  Production. 

I  HAVE  endeavored  to  outline  the  elements  whicli  combine 
in  giving  character  and  value  to  manufactures,  aside  from 
the  material  part  of  the  work  that  may  be  in  them.  I  have 
found  it  necessary  to  show  tbe  superiority  of  Europe  over 
America  in  possessing  a  stock  of  working  people,  born  and 
trained  to  the  trades  in  which  they  are  engaged.  They  bring 
to  their  work  a  certain  indefinable  skill  of  eye  and  touch 
which  shows  itself  in  the  fabric,  and  which  cannot  be  put 
into  it  by  any  substitution  from  without.  How  this  mani- 
fests itself  practically  in  all  our  importations  from  Europe,  I 
shall  show  later  on  in  dealing  with  the  special  schedules  of 
our  tariif  act.  The  word  taste  alone  will  hardly  express  the 
full  meaning  I  wish  to  convey.  But  I  find  no  better  word 
by  which  to  express  all  that  makes  an  article  attractive  and 
induces  people  to  pay  a  higher  price  than  for  the  American 
counterpart.  Our  large  importation  in  finished  goods  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  they  show  attractive  points  in  their  general 
appearance,  color,  design,  and  finish,  which  for  lack  of  skill 
or  adaptation  are  wanting  in  those  produced  here.  Others 
we  cannot  manufacture,  because  other  conditions  may  be 
6 


82  THE  ECONOMT  OF  EIGH   WAGES. 

wanting.  In  what  we  do  manufacture  successfully  against 
foreign  competition,  the  labor  cost  is  very  seldom  a  consider- 
ation. Wherever  quantity  of  production  comes  into  play, 
our  superior  machinery,  working  methods,  and  the  energy  of 
our  workpeople  are  fully  able  to  cope  with  that  part  of  the 
question.  In  many  lines  training  given  in  art  and  technical 
schools  would  be  of  much  greater  service  to  our  industrial 
classes  than  all  the  tariff  increases  repeatedly  enacted  for  the 
fostering  of  home  industries.  To  this  proposition  our  manu- 
facturers generally  answer  that  they  can  buy  talent  culti- 
vated abroad  much  better  trained  than  they  could  expect  to 
get  here,  even  if  they  had  these  schools.  This  may  be  true 
so  far  as  leading  artists  and  designers  are  concerned.  It 
certainly  cannot  apply  to  the  many  who  would  be  benefited 
by  this  training  and  distributed  into  very  important  though 
minor  subdivisions  of  manufacture.  Besides,  experience 
speaks  against  it  The  same  views  were  formerly  held  in 
European  countries,  but  they  are  abandoned  in  the  light  of 
the  manifest  advantages  of  the  introduction  of  art  and  tech- 
nical training  in  the  different  excellent  schools  that  have 
sprung  up  all  over  Europe. 

Superiority   of   English  Work. 

There  is  no  manufacturer  or  workman  so  proud  of  his 
rule-of-thumb  efficiency  as  the  English,  and  speaking  from 
practical  results  no  one  else  has  a  right  to  be  so  proud  of  it 
Strange  to  say  that  in  many  lines  of  manufacture  where 
technical  skill  and  science  play  the  greatest  part,  Germany, 
with  all  the  help  it  receives  from  its  school  training,  has  not 
been  able  to  approach  the  superiority  of  British  work.  The 
color  and  finish  of  cotton  velvets,  for  instance,  and  of  seal 
plushes  in  silk,  to  name  only  a  specimen  or  two,  are  of  such 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  BIOH  WAGES.  SB 

acknowledged  superiority  tliat  the  English  more  than  hold 
the  market  against  the  rivalry  of  Germany.  Still  England 
recognizes  the  importance  of  technical  training,  and  has  gone 
to  work  with  open  hand  to  supply  its  coming  generations 
with  the  means  of  increasing  efficiency.  This  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  while  Germany  has  not  been  able  to  supersede 
England  in  neutral  markets,  the  English  see  clearly  that 
their  rivals  are  approaching  them  perceptibly,  and  by  means 
of  nothing  else  than  their  technical  and  art  schools.  If  any 
nation  by  reason  of  its  development  from  an  agricultural 
into  a  manufacturing  nation  (whose  working  classes  are 
mainly  recruited  from  European  unskilled  labor)  has  the 
need  of  such  institutions  as  we  have  been  describing — art 
schools  and  technical  schools — it  certainly  is  the  great 
republic  of  the  United  States.  Strange  to  say  that,  few  as 
have  been  the  attempts  to  establish  industrial  art  schools, 
most  of  them  seem  to  die  of  inanition  due  to  the  neglect 
of  government  and  industrials.  General  McCIellan,  while 
governor  of  New  Jersey,  interested  himself  earnestly  in 
establishing  an  art  school  in  Trenton.  He  succeeded  so  far 
as  to  get  it  started  with  the  support  of  the  manufacturers. 
But  even  this  useful  enterprise  in  a  centre  whose  chief  indus- 
try is  an  art  industry,  viz.,  pottery,  went  to  pieces  again 
after  his  retirement  from  the  governorship.  The  waste  in 
American  mills  and  much  of  the  bad  work  done  are  due  to 
the  absence  of  special  skill  in  labor  as  well  as  in  the  labora- 
tory and  the  management  in  different  branches  of  the  works. 
Loose  and  even  corrupt  practices  on  the  one  side  and  in- 
competency on  the  other  have  frequently  led  to  destruc- 
tion of  wealth  where  all  other  elements  of  prosperity  were 
present.  Since  the  establishing  of  the  Institute  of  Technol- 
ogy in  Boston  it  is  acknowledged  in  that  centre  that  much 
has  been  done  toward  the  eradication  of  these  evils. 


84  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Helps  in  Technical  Training. 

The  great  corporations  in  our  leading  textile  industries 
would  be  especially  benefited  by  schools  furnishing  trained 
American  help  in  science  and  in  art  Our  people  are  still 
engaged  in  the  task  of  subduing  a  continent  The  extent 
of  the  territory  progressively  covered  by  an  enterprising 
population  still  absorbs,  so  to  speak,  the  intelligence  of  the 
nation.  Quantity  and  immediate  results  are  the  main  objects 
of  all  enterprises.  The  railroad  engineer  in  uniting  conti- 
nents, the  inventor  turning  out  a  new  machine,  the  scientist 
discovering  a  new  process,  all  have  the  same  purpose — to 
make  production  serviceable  to  the  masses  and  all  classes 
of  people.  Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention.  We  are 
inventors  by  compulsion.  Some  of  the  greatest  inventions 
and  improvements  for  cheapening  production  were  either 
made  herein  America  or  adapted  and  improved  from  foreign 
types.  All  industrial  countries  must  be  quick  in  accepting 
scientific  discoveries  of  a  far-reaching  nature,  but  that  the 
United  States  outrun  the  world  in  the  contest  for  mechani- 
cal and  scientific  improvement  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
in  iron-making,  steel-making,  cotton-spinning,  silk-throwing, 
and  in  the  coarser  wool  fabrics  (after  reducing  the  cost  of  raw 
wool  to  the  foreign  free  wool  basis),  though  paying  higher 
wages  per  diem,  America  fully  holds  her  own,  frequently 
at  a  lower  cost  of  labor  by  the  piece.  The  higher  wage 
rate  per  diem  ruling  in  the  United  States  enables  the  opera- 
tives to  enjoy  a  better  mode  of  living  and  better  nutrition 
of  body  and  mind.  They  eat  more  and  better  food  than 
any  of  the  operatives  of  Europe,  and  their  general  mode  of 
living  is  upon  a  higher  standard.  They  operate  more  spin- 
dles, more  looms  in  the  textiles.  In  steel-making,  coal-mining, 
coking,  etc.,  an  equal  number  of  hands  turn  out  more  tons 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  85 

in  a  given  time  tlian  any  of  their  competitors  in  Europe, 
England  not  excluded.  Thej  work  more  steadily  in  every 
hour  of  their  working  day.  The  steadiness  of  the  worker, 
the  application  of  his  whole  time  and  energy  to  his  work,  is 
most  intense,  and  is  only  possible  where  good  nutrition  pre- 
vails. Every  moment  is  made  use  of  to  turn  out  the  great- 
est number  of  pieces  that  can  be  ground  out  of  his  machine 
or  run  out  of  his  hand  while  at  work.  This  alone  explains 
the  high  rate  of  earnings  in  some  occupations,  coupled  with 
the  low  piece-price  paid,  which,  when  I  stated  it  to  manu- 
facturers in  the  same  industries  in  European  countries,  caused 
astonishment.  Many  of  our  foreign  rivals  are  aware  of  this 
and  dread  a  reformed  tariff  (in  the  Democratic  sense),  a  low 
tariff  on  a  basis  of  free  raw  materials. 

Much  of  this  is  due,  aside  from  the  superior  quality  of 
American  labor,  to  the  scientific  development  of  the  age. 
Many  a  new  industry  has  been  called  into  being  of  which 
the  last  generation  was  entirely  ignorant.  Quickest  of  all 
are  the  United  States  to  avail  themselves  of  these.  Thus, 
what  may  be  called  the  new  science  of  our  generation — 
electricity — has  found  new  developments  and  applications 
in  America.  I  will  not  speak  of  the  telegraph  and  the  tele- 
phone, which  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  world's  com- 
mercial life,  and,  in  saving  time  and  employment  of  capital, 
have  become  very  important  factors  in  cheapening  prices, 
but  of  the  application  of  electricity  to  productive  processes. 
Here  we  have  an  entirely  new  vista  of  possibilities  still  in 
store  for  us.  The  feats  accomplished  within  the  short  time 
since  the  application  of  electricity  to  industries  are  so  won- 
derful that  we  may  well  indulge  in  prophecies  which  a 
decade  or  two  ago  would  have  been  considered  flights  of 
imagination  of  the  most  fanciful  kind.  In  metal  industry 
especially,  is  electricitj^  destined  to  play  a  most  important 


86  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

part,  and  I  will  allude  to  only  a  few  of  the  results  attained 
within  the  last  few  years.  The  welding  of  different  metals 
had  resisted  all  attempts.  Electricity  has  solved  the  prob- 
lem very  effectively,  and  a  process  has  been  invented  by 
which  iron  and  copper,  or  any  other  metals  are  welded  now 
at  a  nominal  cost.  Welding  by  electricity  cheapens  many  a 
form  of  iron  that  had  formerly  to  be  welded  by  subjecting 
the  different  parts  to  a  separate  heating  process.  Another 
direction  in  which  electricity  has  shown  its  wonderful  capac- 
ity for  cheapening  cost  is  in  the  recent  development  of  the 
manufacture  of  what  maybe  called  a  new  metal,  aluminium. 
Aluminium  possesses  qualities  which  make  it  of  the  highest 
value  industrially.  It  unites  with  great  tensile  strength 
great  specific  lightness.  It  does  not  oxidize  in  moist  air, 
nor  is  it  affected  by  water.  Its  softness  makes  it  easily 
workable.  It  can  be  hammered  and  drawn  into  wire.  For 
these  reasons  it  would  be  an  excellent  material  for  almost 
every  article  of  use  now  made  of  iron,  steel,  copper,  or 
brass.  Its  specific  weight  is  2.56  against  7,84  of  iron. 
Wherever  lightness  combined  with  strength  is  desirable, 
and  this  is  the  case  in  almost  everything  made  wholly  or 
largely  of  metal,  its  capacity  for  employment  is  unlimited. 
For  military  equipments  it  would,  for  this  reason  alone, 
prove  of  the  greatest  value,  either  pure  or  as  an  alloy  with 
other  metals.  The  supply  is  unlimited,  as  it  is  contained 
in  all  clay  to  the  extent  of  about  35  per  cent  The  use  of 
this  valuable  metal  was,  however,  up  to  recent  years  almost 
impossible  on  account  of  its  high  cost.  Aluminium  was 
produced  for  practical  purposes  and  in  a  compact  form  by 
Ernst  Wohler  in  1845,  and  by  Deville  in  1854.  The 
French  Government,  seeing  the  great  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  this  metal,  assisted  with  large  sums  and 
enabled  the  erection  of  works  at  Javelle,  and  the  manufac- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  87 

ture  in  quantities.  The  process,  however — the  Natron  proc- 
ess— was  too  expensive  to  give  the  metal  much  scope 
for  employment.  The  price  at  first  was  as  high  as  fr.  1000 
per  kilogram  (about  $90  a  pound)  and  was  gradually 
reduced  by  various  inventions  and  discoveries  to  about 
$10  a  pound,  at  which  price  it  was  sold  but  a  few  years  ago, 
when  the  world  was  informed  of  the  invention  in  America 
of  a  process  of  reducing  aluminium  by  electricity.  Fac- 
tories were  started  in  America  and  in  England  and  put  in 
successful  operation.  The  price  was  quickly  reduced  to 
$2  a  pound,  and  something  over  a  year  ago  to  $1.  It  was 
then  said  that  this  reduced  price  would  not  leave  a  profit  to 
those  operating  by  the  new  electro-chemical  process,  that 
the  price  was  reduced  to  discourage  the  employment  of  new 
inventions  rapidly  coming  into  the  field,  by  which  the  cost 
of  production  is  again  reduced  considerably.  The  patentee 
of  a  later  process  which  has  come  under  my  notice  claimed 
then  that  the  metal  can  easily  be  produced  as  low  as  30  or 
even  25  cents  per  pound. 

But  before  any  new  process  had  been  put  into  operation, 
the  employers  of  the  electric  process  who  had  claimed  that 
aluminium  could  not  be  profitably  produced  at  $1  a  pound, 
have  since  seen  fit  to  reduce  the  price  to  50  cents  a  pound. 

It  is  useless  in  a  discussion  of  the  kind  that  we  are  engaged 
in,  to  task  the  reader  with  technical  explanations  as  to  the 
difference  between  one  invention  and  another.  I  only  wish 
to  point  out  the  effect  of  scientific  discoveries  on  the  cost  of 
production.  The  difference  in  wages,  whatever  their  day 
rates  may  be,  sinks  into  insignificance  when  compared  to 
this  destroying  factor  in  price  making.  Last  summer  it  was 
stated  in  England  before  the  British  Association  that  the  cost 
of  aluminium  bronze  (with  10  per  centum  of  aluminium) 
was  but  a  few  years  ago  $1.20  per  pound,  and  at  the  time 


88  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HTQH   WAGES. 

of  the  reading  of  the  paper  38  cents.  At  the  present  price 
of  alTiminium,  the  aluminium  bronze  can  be  produced  at 
considerably  less  cost.  The  governments  of  different  coun- 
tries are  preparing  for  the  extensive  use  of  aluminium  as 
an  alloy  with  steel  in  their  ordnance  and  small  arms,  ship- 
building, armor-plating,  etc.  Here,  then,  science  has  again 
called  into  existence  new  industries,  a  new  metal  of  great 
serviceability,  probably  to  be  produced  in  the  near  future  at 
what,  compared  with  the  past,  will  be  merely  a .  nominal 
cost. 

American   Chemists  Lagging  Behind. 

In  chemistry  equal  results  can  be  noted.  But  here 
America  lags  behind  European  countries,  and  science 
schools  and  technical  colleges  with  extensive  laboratories 
would  be  of  the  highest  value.  In  this  branch  Germany 
especially  has  had  remarkable  success.  Many  of  its  most 
flourishing  industries  are  pre-eminently  chemical  industries, 
and  their  establishment  and  very  profitable  operation  are 
traceable  to  the  excellence  of  its  polytechnic  schools  and 
the  high  science  training  in  its  universities.  Some  of  our 
colleges  have  very  good  chemical  schools  and  laboratories. 
But  they  seldom  reach  high  enough.  In  most  instances 
they  lack  the  means  for  sufficient  extension.  American 
colleges  and  universities  are  generally  endowed  schools, 
based  on  bequests  and  legacies;  hence  they  are  in  most 
cases  hampered  by  provisions  which  direct  the  applica- 
tion of  the  funds  and  interfere  with  the  free  exercise  of 
judgment  as  to  the  teaching.  The  direction  of  the  teach- 
ing is  taken  from  the  faculty  and  left  to  the  trustees.  But 
teaching  must  be  as  free  as  science  in  order  to  show  the 
best  results. 

Returning   now    to   applied    chemistry,    I    will   cite    an 


THE  ECONOMY  OP  HIGH   WAGES.  89 

example  to  show  tbe  cheapening  effected  by  the  intro- 
duction of  science  into  manufacturing  industries.  Paper 
making  has  especially  gratifying  results  to  show,  and  this 
within  a  very  brief  space  of  time.  I  take  here  the  Eng- 
lish prices,  because  England  has  for  a  long  time  had  the 
advantage  of  cheaper  prices  for  its  materials,  and  has  been 
the  seat  of  the  industries  which  furnish  the  chemicals  for 
most  paper  makers,  and  largely  so  for  our  American  manu- 
facturers. A  fine  quality  of  glazed  packing  paper,  known 
to  almost  every  user  of  English  goods,  sold  in  1879  at 
£39  per  ton.  In  1890  it  had  come  down  to  £18  10s.,  or 
less  than  one-half  the  old  price. 

This  reduction  is  partially  due  to  improvements  in 
machinery  and  the  manufacturing  methods.  The  largest 
part,  however,  is  owing  to  the  improvements — mostly  chemi- 
cal— in  the  reducing  of  the  manufacturing  materials  used. 
It  costs  less  to  make  the  pulp  because,  as  we  discover 
improved  processes,  chemicals  used  in  reducing  the  fibrous 
matter  are  cheaper.  Bleaching  powder,  which  had  been 
£14  the  ton  in  1879,  is  now  £5  to  £6  a  ton.  Soda  ash, 
etc.,  have  come  down  in  proportion.  Soda  pulp  when  first 
introduced  sold  at  £22,  and  sells  now  at  £9  unbleached 
and  £11  bleached,  a  ton  ;  while  the  mechanical  pulp,  mostly 
from  Germany  and  Sweden,  sold  last  winter  at  Hull  at  34 
shillings  or  $8  a  ton.  Sulphite  pulp  is  a  long  fibre  pulp 
which  owes  its  creation  as  an  industry  to  the  chemistry 
development  of  Germany.  It  largely  replaces  rags  in  paper 
making.  In  England  it  is  now  sold  at  rates  between  £11 
10s.  and  £12  10s. 

These  improvements  in  pulp  making  have,  of  course, 
largely  reduced  the  value  of  rags.  Jute  end  cuttings  and 
rope  ends,  formerly  largely  used,  have  come  down  from 
£14  to  £6  in  sympathy  with   the  decline  of  price  in  the 


9a  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

otlier  materials.  America  has  kept  in  line  in  the  progress 
made  in  the  industry.  A  number  of  improvements  are  of 
American  origin.  Although  it  has  to  import  its  soda  ash, 
bleaching  powder,  and  other  chemicals,  and  pay  duty,  it 
produces  soda  pulp  as  cheaply  as  England,  and  by  means 
of  its  consolidation  of  works  and  a  quicker  eye  to  improve- 
ments is  even  able  to  export  pulp. 

The  labor  cost  here  is  also  infinitesimal,  independent  of 
the  remuneration  per  diem.  A  product  of  5,000  pounds  a 
day  of  one  converter  would  not  require  more  than  four  or 
five  men  at  $1.50  a  day.  The  wage  rate  per  pound  would 
not  be  more  than  one-tenth  to  one-seventh  of  a  cent.  Re- 
duction of  wages  would  not  accomplish  very  much  toward 
reduction  of  price,  alongside  of  the  cheapening  influences 
recorded  above. 

Great  saving  of  expense  and  cost  has  been  effected  by 
improved  methods  in  the  recovery  of  soda  ash  and  other 
chemicals  used  in  the  manufacturing  process.  In  this  the 
Americans  have  made  great  strides  of  late,  and  in  soda  pulp 
making  are  fully  able  to  compete  on  a  free  trade  basis  with 
the  whole  world,  and  carry  off  the  honors  besides. 

Equal  progress  has  been  made  in  America  in  paper  mak- 
ing. In  spite  of  the  onerous  burdens  on  materials,  we  are 
able  to  export  to  England  with  higher  prices  for  our  chemi- 
cals, and  even  pay  the  freight  for  the  paper,  and  undersell 
English  makers  in  their  home  markets. 

This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  America,  wherever  indus- 
tries can  be  so  conducted,  a  special  article  or  special  line  is 
made  by  one  mill,  year  in  and  year  out.  Infinite  machinery 
keeps  grinding  away  and  produces  infinite  quantities.  The 
general  cost  is  reduced  pro  rata  with  the  increased  quanti- 
ties run  out  by  the  mill. 

In  England,  as  I  have  repeatedly  been  told,  paper  makers 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  91 

make  all  kinds  of  paper  that  are  wanted.  This  principle 
applies  as  well  to  other  industries  to  which  I  shall  have 
reference  hereafter.  One  of  the  leading  men  controlling 
and  selling  the  output  of  a  number  of  mills,  told  me  that 
one  house  prides  itself  on  manufacturing  not  fewer  than  160 
different  sorts  of  paper.  By  its  different  methods  America 
is  enabled  to  pay  high  wages  and  undersell  Europe. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Improvements  and  Inventions. — Labor  Cost  enormously  reduced. — Iron 
in  Finished  Forms. — Metallurgy. — Automatic  Machinery. — Its  Effect 
on  Cost. — Labor  Cost  an  Insignificant  Item. —Cheapest  Cost  and 
Highest  Wages  with  Highest  Scientific  Development. — The  Steel 
Rail  and  the  Ocean  Steamer,  Creations  of  Science. 

Po-werful  Influence  in  Metallurgy. 

The  greatest  savings  in  the  cost  of  production  have,  how- 
ever, been  realized  in  metallurgy,  and  in  the  production  of 
pig  iron  and  steel  the  most  astonishing  and  gratifying  results 
have  arisen.  It  is  not  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  as  I  was 
told  by  an  old  ironmaster  of  North  Staffordshire,  that  it 
took  six  tons  of  coal  for  the  production  of  a  ton  of  pig  iron, 
where  one  and  three-quarters  are  used  now.  The  introduc- 
tion of  the  hot  blast  and  the  better  construction  of  furnaces 
have  brought  this  about.  Not  only  is  less  coal  used,  but 
the  ores  yield  now  almost  all  the  iron  they  contain,  while 
formerly  there  used  to  be  considerable  waste.  Of  course  the 
labor  of  carting  the  materials  was  then  proportionately 
greater  too.  The  value  of  the  fuel  saved  alone  is  sufficient 
to  more  than  cover  the  present  price  of  pig  iron.  The  dif- 
ference is  equal  to  the  labor  cost  in  ten  tons  of  pig  iron  at 
the  furnace  average  labor  cost  in  England.  While  we  may 
say  that  labor  employed  about  furnaces  receives  from  one- 
third  to  one-half  more  pay,  the  cost  of  pig  iron  has  been 
reduced  to  less  than  one-third  the  price  it  commanded  then. 

In  the  manufacturing  of  steel,  both  on  'the  Bessemer  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES.  93 

the  basic  process,  improvements  have  led  to  economies  by 
•which  the  price  of  steel  has  been  reduced  far  below  the 
price  of  puddled  iron,  which  is  gradually  making  room  in 
almost  all  employments  for  steel.  English  steel  rails,  which 
had  been  in  1869,  $55,  and  in  1873,  $80,  are  now  about  $20, 
and  were  as  low  as  $18  in  1888.  American  steel  rails  had 
to  follow,  of  course,  in  this  price  decline.  In  1869  they 
were  $132  currency  a  ton,  or  $88  gold.  They  are  now  $30 
a  ton,  and  were  sold  as  low  as  $25,  about  three  years  ago. 

American  rail  mills,  it  is  not  saying  too  much,  are  the  best 
equipped  in  labor-saving  methods  and  appliances,  and  an 
American  rail  can  be  produced  now  from  the  pig  iron  at  less 
cost  on  the  average  in  labor,  although  the  daily  rates 
are  considerably  higher,  than  in  Europe.  These  are  truly 
achievements  of  science  applied  to  industry.  The  far-reach- 
ing effect  is  brought  home  now  to  every  understanding. 
Railroad  building  could  otherwise  never  have  attained  the 
extension  which  it  has.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  homes 
and  farms  would  not  have  been  established.  The  food  sup- 
plies of  Europe,  principally  of  England,  would  be  still  sub- 
ject to  scarcity,  and  want  and  misery  still  be  the  lot  of  the 
working  classes  of  England,  not  to  speak  of  Germany  and 
France,  if  iron  and  steel  were  still  produced  at  the  cost  and 
by  the  methods  of  the  time  when  railroads  were  first 
started. 

Some  of  the  most  important  inventions  for  reducing  the 
cost  of  rolling  the  rails  are  American.  But  whatever  their 
origin,  they  are  applied  to  better  advantage  here  than  abroad. 
The  effect  is  a  much  smaller  number  of  men  employed  for 
the  same  output,  even  where  we  compare  American  with 
English  rail  mills.  The  resulting  higher  wage  rate  per  day 
and  lower  labor  cost  per  ton  will  not  surprise,  therefore. 

The  invention  and  introduction  of  the  three-high  blooming- 


94  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

and  rail-mill  instead  of  the  two-high  mill  did  a  great  deal  in 
cheapening  the  cost  of  production.  Automatic  tables  and 
travelling  cranes  do  now  the  chief  work  in  American  rail 
mills.  "Before  the  introduction  of  automatic  appliances, 
from  fifteen  to  seventeen  men  were  required  to  operate  a 
three-high  rail  mill.  The  automatic  tables  reduced  this 
number  to  five,  including  the  roller  in  charge  of  the  train," 
says  one  of  our  great  engineers,  Mr.  Hunt,  the  inventor  of 
the  tables,  in  a  paper  in  i\ie  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal. 
Thej  were  first  introduced  in  1884-85,  and  we  can  well  see 
from  this  that  the  labor  cost  of  steel  rails  from  the  ingot  to 
the  rail  is  a  necessarily  decreasing  quantity  in  the  train 
of  these  inventions  and  improvements. 

To  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  workings  of  an  Ameri- 
can rail  mill  of  to-day,  1  will  quote  from  the  paper  referred 
to  above : 

"  After  the  ingot  is  reduced  in  the  blooming  mill  it  is  carried  by 
power  rollers  toward  the  first  rail  train,  and  through  a  shear  by  which 
the  end,  which  was  the  top  of  the  ingot,  is  cut  off,  and  the  long  bloom 
sheared  in  two,  each  half  making  two  or  three  rails,  according  to  the 
weight  of  the  intended  section.  The  first  half  at  once  passes  through 
the  rail  roughing  rolls,  the  second  one  being  held  for  a  few  seconds,  or 
until  the  first  has  made  three  passes,  when  it  is  also  sent  forward. 

"If  from  any  reason  the  bloom  when  sheared  should  have  become 
too  cold  to  be  safely  and  successfully  finished,  an  overhead  traveller  is 
provided  to  carry  it  at  a  right  angle  into  a  ring  at  the  side  of  the  mill, 
in  which  heating  furnaces  are  located  with  a  Wellman  charging  and 
drawing  crane  in  front  of  them.  When  sufficiently  heated  the  same 
carrier  conveys  the  steel  back  to  the  table  rollers. 

"  By  this  arrangement  cold  cobbles,  or  other  rail  blooms,  can  be 
heated  and  delivered  to  the  rolls.  In  the  roughing  rolls  the  bloom  re- 
ceives five  passes  in  three-high  rolls.  It  is  then  passed  to  the  second 
roughing  tables  and  is  given  three  passes  in  three-high  rolls.  The  par- 
tially formed  section  is  elevated  to  the  back  tables  of  two-high  rolls,  and 
making  one  pass  through  them  reaches  a  dummy  table  in  front,  from 
which  it  slides  down  to  driven  rollers,  and  is  by  them  carried  back  to  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  95 

three-high  set  of  rolls  which  are  in  line  with  the  first  roughing  rolls,  and 
driven  by  the  same  engine.  In  these  it  receives  four  passes,  making,  in 
all,  thirteen  rail-mill  passes.  It  is  now  a  finished  section,  long  enough 
to  cut  into  three  30-foot  rails.  This  is  done  at  one  operation  by  four 
saws.  After  passing  through  the  cambering  machine,  the  rails  are  car- 
ried by  power  down  the  hot  beds.  When  sufficiently  cool  they  are  loaded 
by  power  on  a  spider  car,  which  is  handled  by  a  special  locomotive.  The 
rails  are  conveyed  to  the  several  cold  beds,  located  conveniently  to  the 
cold  straightening  presses,  and  are  unloaded  on  these  beds  by  an  auto- 
matic arrangement  of  arms  or  levers,  receiving  their  power  from  steam 
taken  from  the  locomotive  boiler. " 

Here  it  is  all  self-acting  machinery  which  does  the  work. 
The  few  men  seen  about  in  an  American  rail  mill  direct  and 
guide.  In  Germany,  near  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  in  England 
(Middlesborough,  and  Darlington)  I  saw  at  what  was  reputed 
as  the  best  equipped  works  no  arrangements  even  approach- 
ing this  complete  system  of  scientific  apparatus.  In  rolling 
and  handling  the  rails  men  were  employed  to  do  what  is 
done  here  by  automatic  appliances.  We  turn  a  ton  of  rails 
out  of  the  pig  iron  at  a  labor  cost  of  $2.50  at  the  present 
time,  which  in  England  costs  $3.04.  At  the  same  time  our 
labor  per  diem  receives  two-thirds  more  pay  than  the  com- 
paratively well  paid  English  labor. 

Price  Reductions  in  Other  Forms  of  Iron. 

If  we  look  into  the  prices  of  iron  at  remoter  periods,  with 
their  crude  methods,  we  can  well  understand  the  backward- 
ness of  European  countries.  Indeed,  the  progress  of  the  ages 
can  almost  be  measured  by  the  progress  made  in  the  produc- 
tion of  iron.  In  the  early  Middle  Ages  especially,  iron  had 
become  so  scarce  an  article,  that  almost  every  remnant  of  it 
brought  down  from  the  Eoman  period  was  made  use  of  in  one 
form  or  another.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  is  recorded  that  the 
iron  clasps  which  had  been  used  in  the  huge  masonry  of  the 


96  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Porta  Nigra  at  Treves  were  removed  and  forged  into  weap- 
ons and  utensils.  For  the  fifty  years  previous  to  1830, 
when  railroad  building  took  its  rise,  the  price  of  English 
pig  iron,  according  to  Tooke's  "  History  of  Prices,"  aver- 
aged about  £7  per  ton.  From  old  accounts  we  learn  that 
the  price  of  bar  iron  not  further  back  than  the  seventeenth 
century  was  25s.  8c?.  a  hundredweight,  which  is  equal  to 
X25  13s.,  or  about  $125,  the  gross  ton,  which  the  value  of 
money  at  that  time  would  make  considerably  higher  yet, 
compared  to  our  present  prices.  !A.bout  the  middle  of  last 
century  the  price  was  yet  £20  a  ton.  At  the  present  time 
English  bar  iron  varies  between  £5  and  £6. 

The  reduction  in  price  of  finished  articles  of  iron,  caused 
by  the  application  of  improvements  and  mechanical  inven- 
tions, is  greater  yet,  and  here  again  America  shows  most 
astonishing  results.  Our  principle  laid  down  above,  that 
high  wages  lead  to  cheapened  production  by  a  necessity 
like  a  natural  law,  finds  excellent  proof  in  the  iron  industry, 
principally  in  finished  forms.  Here  automatic  machinery 
replaces  hand  labor  in  almost  all  except  the  finishing  proc- 
esses. By  this  means  we  are  able  to  indulge  in  the  luxury 
of  wbat,  compared  with  the  prices  paid  in  free  trade  coun- 
tries, must  be  called  high-priced  iron  and  steel  (to  help  the 
infant  industries  of  Pennsylvania  and  their  millionaire 
owners),  and  still  undersell  European  free-trade  countries 
with  the  finished  products. 

The  drop-hammer  has  been  lately  introduced  in  Ameri- 
can plow  works,  and  contracts  are  taken  at  $4.60  a  plow. 
I  heard  of  one  order  for  20,000  plows  to  Argentina  at 
that  price.  This  was  in  1890.  In  that  same  year  I  visited 
one  of  the  principal  English  works  of  world-wide  repu- 
tation. There  the  hammer  and  the  anvil  alone  were  in  use, 
and  the  blacksmith    wielded  his  craft  unassisted  by  any 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  97 

mechanical  auxiliaries.  The  cheapest  plow  which  they  pro- 
duced was  80s.  or  $7.29.  But  as  in  other  trades  so  in 
agricultural  implements,  their  trade,  being  principally  an 
exporting  one,  has  adapted  itself  to  the  local  variations 
of  the  demand,  "We  know  how  tastes  and  habits  determine 
the  character  of  tools  and  implements  no  less  than  of  com- 
modities. England,  trying  to  give  the  people  of  foreign 
lands  the  articles  which  they  claim  to  be  suitable  to  their 
purposes,  accommodates  her  manufacturing  system  to  the 
conditions  most  suitable  to  the  purpose.  The  many  varia- 
tions do  not  permit  of  a  system,  except  under  very  great 
modifications,  which  can  afford  to  build  and  use  machinery 
for  one  specialty  or  pattern  even.  This  factory  not  alone 
produced  a  variety  of  plows  for  the  different  countries,  but 
mowers,  reapers,  and  other  agricultural  implements.  Our 
system  of  work  may  somewhat  interfere  with  a  rapid  exten- 
sion of  exports  by  not  being  elastic  enough  to  adapt  itself 
to  special  local  demands.  Much  can  be  done,  however,  to 
assimilate  the  American  working  system  to  a  readier  com- 
pliance with  foreign  tastes.  But  be  this  as  it  may,  we  hold 
the  inner  circle.  We  certainly  cannot  be  dislodged  from 
the  hold  on  the  home  market  by  any  possible  emergencies 
arising  out  of  foreign  labor  and  manufacturing  conditions 
as  here  outlined. 

Other  Illustrations  of  Superior  American 
Methods. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  labor  processes  by  which  the 
difference  between  the  old  methods  and  the  American 
methods  can  be  illustrated  is  that  involved  in  the  making 
of  an  article  largely  used  in  building — a  piece  of  iron  for 
uniting  beams,  turned  into  its  proper  shape  after  it  has 
7 


98  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

been  heated.  The  uniting  of  beams  bj  means  of  this 
beam  hanger  is  preferable  to  mortising,  as  mortising 
weakens  the  beam  to  the  extent  that  the  timber  is  cut 
away.  The  beam  hanger  leaves  the  beam  intact,  and 
unites  the  two  beams  equally  firmly.  In  Germany  and 
other  foreign  countries  it  is  forged  by  the  blacksmith  on 
his  anvil.  In  America,  where  its  use  is  far  more  extensive 
on  account  of  the  more  general  employment  of  wood  as  a 
building  material,  it  was  formerly  made  in  the  same  way. 
Lately  a  machine  has  been  invented  by  which,  after  the 
iron  is  heated,  it  is  rolled  by  one  operation  into  the  proper 
shape. 

In  Germany,  as  I  found  out  by  personal  inquirj^,  a  black- 
smith and  his  helper  would  not  make  more  than  twenty  of 
these  irons  in  a  day,  and  wages  at  three  marks  (or  72  cents) 
a  day  would  be  considered  high  pay.  The  selling  price 
of  these  irons  is  about  9  cents  a  pound  in  England  and 
Germany.  In  America,  though  iron  is  higher  than  in 
England  and  Germany,  the  roller  at  the  machine  earns  from 
$3  to  $3.50  a  day ;  the  helper,  $1  to  $1.50 ;  and  the  iron  is 
sold  at  3|  cents  a  pound,  with  a  good  profit  to  the  manu- 
facturer. A  day's  work  on  one  machine  turns  out  600  to 
700  finished  beam  hangers.  The  cheapened  product  and 
the  rapidity  with  which  orders  can  be  filled  now,  creates 
markets  which  formerly  were  wanting  through  lack  of 
ability  to  supply  them.  Here  again  cheapness  is  not  at 
all  due  to  any  individual  labor  exertion  (except  that  close 
and  exhaustive  application  which  is  possible  only  to  well- 
paid  labor),  but  almost  entirely  to  the  inventive  spirit  so 
characteristically  American. 

These  labor  processes  are  always  paid  at  piece-work  rates. 
The  time  occupied  in  rolling  is  the  same,  whether  the  irons 
be  of  larger  or  smaller  size.     It  takes  ten  seconds  to  run  a 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  99 

bar  through  the  rollers.  The  heating  of  the  larger  pieces, 
however,  takes  more  time  than  that  of  the  smaller,  and  on 
this  account  the  larger  irons  occupy  more  time  in  making. 

■  A  machine  can  roll  three  tons  of  iron  a  day  at  less 
than  a  cent  per  pound  for  the  labor,  as  against  perhaps  five 
cents  under  the  old  hand  process.  Other  forms  of  iron  are 
treated  in  the  same  way,  but  this  will  sufl&ce  as  an  example 
to  illustrate  the  influence  of  invention  upon  prices.  In  pin 
making,  screw  making,  chain  making,  and  kindred  indus- 
tries, automatic  machinery  does  all  the  work,  while  human 
labor  is  confined  to  feeding  the  machine  which  turns  out 
the  work.  It  sounds  almost  ludicrous  to  hear  the  question 
of  wages  or  labor  cost  mentioned  in  connection  with  opera- 
tions of  this  kind. 

What  difference  would  it  make  in  the  cost  of  the  product 
in  pin  making  whether  the  day  rate  of  the  workman  tend- 
ing the  machine  be  $2  or  $3  under  working  methods  like 
these?  In  a  factory  in  Connecticut  I  found  70  pin-making 
machines  in  operation.  They  were  tended  by  three  men 
and  one  machinist  and  a  boy  helper  for  the  repairing.  The 
combined  output  of  these  self-acting  machines  is  7,500,000 
of  pins  a  day  or  25,000  papers.*  The  pins  are  even  put  on 
the  paper  by  the  machine.  The  difference  in  the  cost, 
whether  the  combined  wages  of  the  five  men  be  $7.60  or 
$10.00  per  day,  is  infinitesimal.  Allowing  for  stoppages, 
and  taking  the  output  at  20,000  papers,  the  difference  would 
not  be  more  than  one-eighth  of  a  cent. 

*  It  was  considered  a  great  triumph  of  progress  of  his  time  by  Adam 
Smith  that  ten  persons  under  proper  division  of  labor  could  make  among 
them  upwards  of  48,000  pins  a  day. 

Forty-eight  thousand  pins  the  product  of  ten  men  a  hundred  years  ago, 
against  7,500,000  pins  the  product  of  five  men  to-day.  A  four-thousand 
times  greater  product  by  the  aid  of  modern  machinery  than  possible  by 
the  aid  of  the  best  system  then  known. 


100  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

The  most  surprising  results  are  attained,  however,  in  com- 
posite products,  articles  of  immediate  use  and  wear,  when 
different  parts  of  so  complicated  an  article  as  a  watch,  a 
clock,  or  a  pair  of  shoes  can  be  made  by  an  application  of 
the  American  system. 

As  shown  in  the  Introductory  Letter  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  my  report  on  Technical  Education  (Industrial  Edu- 
cation in  France)  a  Waterbury  watch  is  made  at  the  trifling 
labor  expense  of  fifty  cents.  The  material  in  no  instance  is 
further  advanced,  when  it  enters  the  mill,  than  sheet  steel. 
All  the  springs,  wheels,  screws,  pins,  pinions,  etc.,  are  made 
by  self-acting  machinery.  Yet  the  factory  had  at  the  time 
of  my  visit  420'  employees  on  its  pay-roll,  full}^  one-half  of 
whom  were  women,  at  an  average  of  wages  of  $10.71.  We 
see  here  a  remarkable  illustration  of  a  low  cost  of  labor 
consequent  upon  a  high  rate  of  wages.  But  here  every 
improvement  or  device  tending  to  cheapen  cost  is  quickly 
introduced.  A  machine  was  lately  put  in  b}"  which  1,200 
to  1,500  springs  are  turned  out  a  day  with  two  machines  and 
two  men,  to  take  the  place  of  other  machinery  which  exacted 
the  employment  of  twelve  men  for  an  output  of  1,000 
springs.  In  Germany,  in  the  Black  Forest,  I  visited  the 
works  of  a  "  stock  company  "  turning  out  clocks  by  the  help 
of  machinery  and  power.  Screw-making  was  done  by  a 
man  putting  pieces  of  copper  cut  from  the  rod  into  the 
required  sizes  into  the  receptacle  of  the  machine.  Of  course 
the  machine  had  to  stop  for  each  operation  of  turning  out  a 
finished  screw.  The  whole  looked  somewhat  funny  to  one 
accustomed  to  the  operation  of  automatic  machinery,  grind- 
ing out  incessantly  without  any  human  labor,  except  that  of 
a  boy,  putting  in  a  new  rod  when  the  old  is  worked  up  and 
the  last .  screw  has  fallen  into  the  bag.  Under  sucb  differ- 
ences and  distinctions,  it  becomes  apparent  that  labor  in 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  101 

watch  and  clock  making  at  $10.71  is  cheaper  in  Massachu- 
setts than  labor  at  ten  or  twelve  marks  ($2.40  to  $2.88)  in 
the  Black  Forest. 

We  find  the  best  illustration  of  the  superiority  of  Ameri- 
can workpeople  in  quantitative  production  over  their  English 
and  foreign  competitors  when  using  and  handling  the  same 
kind  of  machinery. 

The  application  of  these  methods  and  employment  of  self- 
acting  machinery,  plays  nowhere  a  more  important  part  than 
in  machine  building  itself.  Not  alone  that  a  machine  made 
by  machinery  can  be  made  more  cheaply  than  by  hand  labor: 
the  parts  also  are  usually  more  exact  in  the  fittings,  and 
offer  the  very  great  advantage  that  they  can  at  all  times  be 
easily  replaced  simply  by  specifying  the  number  of  the  part, 
and  therefore  of  great  practical  value  for  shipment  into 
countries  where  skilled  labor  for  repairs  is  scarce.  Here, 
also,  every  part  is  usually  accompanied  with  the  building  of 
a  new  machine  for  the  purpose. 

The  effect  of  these  tool  machines  may  be  measured  from 
one  little  example  that  I  noticed  in  a  factory  making  dyna- 
mos. The  cutting  of  threads  in  the  racks  in  the  electrical 
mechanism  was  formerly  done  by  hand,  and  the  racks  (about 
eighteen  inches  long)  cost  about  fifteen  cents  apiece  in  labor. 
This  is  now  done  by  a  machine  specially  constructed  for  the 
purpose,  with  unvarying  exactness,  at  a  quarter  of  a  cent 
With  such  help,  utilizing  machinery  wherever  possible,  one 
of  the  dynamo  works  which  I  visited  lately  turns  out  one 
dynamo  per  day,  of  sixty  arc  lamps,  with  all  the  lamps, 
hanging  boards,  cut-out  boxes,  amperes,  switchboards,  and 
all  the  innumerable  little  supplies,  too  numerous  to  mention, 
for  equipping  so  complicated  and  highly-developed  a  mech- 
anism. For  160  persons,  with  a  large  proportion  of  helpers 
(boys  and  young  men),  the  weekly  payroll  is  $2,200,  includ- 


102  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

ing  superintendents,  office  and  shop  rent,  as  well  as  office 
help.  The  help  employed  in  the  factory  averages  about  $12 
a  week.  Considering  the  large  proportion  of  minor  help, 
the  rate  of  pay  for  the  more  skilled  occupations,  of  course, 
is  very  much  higher. 

But  whatever  the  amount  of  weekly  earnings  might  be, 
would  here  again  not  be  of  great  importance  if  held  against 
the  commercial  value  of  the  article  produced. 

The  total  labor  employed  in  the  production  of  an  appa- 
ratus as  described  would  be  $400  (on  the  basis  of  calcula- 
tion given  above) — while  the  gross  selling  price  is,  or  was  at 
least  at  that  time  (1890),  $4500.  The  high  selling  price, 
quite  disproportionate  to  the  cost  of  production,  is  due  to 
an  extent  to  the  guaranteeing  of  the  dynamos.  They 
require  constant  attention  and  repairing  on  account  of  the 
binding  of  the  journal  in  the  bearing,  arising  from  the  heat- 
ing, through  the  high-speeded  machine.  Many  inventions 
are  being  put  into  requisition  which  are  calculated  to 
obviate  this  difl&culty  and  to  bring  down  the  price. 

So  far  as  the  labor  cost  stands  to  the  value  of  the  product 
it  can  be  easily  seen  that  the  question  of  wages  is  but 
an  unimportant  item.  The  manufacture  of  products  so 
thoroughly  protected  by  patents  as  these  are,  becomes  an 
absolute  monopoly,  and  the  profit  rates  are  large  as  bespoken 
by  the  high  dividends  on  watered  stocks  and  other  evidences 
of  rapid  capital  accumulations  out  of  the  earnings. 

The  question  of  the  relations  of  labor  to  the  cost  of 
production  resolves  itself  entirely  to  one  of  equipment 
Whether  labor  be  equipped  with  all  the  improvements  and 
inventions  or  not,  whether  labor  be  well  conditioned  and  fed 
or  underpaid  and  overworked,  decides  the  contest,  not  the 
relative  difference  in  day  wages.  It  is  the  output  after  all 
which  makes  the  price  of  a  commodity. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  103 

It  has  been  my  unvarying  experience  that,  even  with  the 
employment  of  machinery,  the  number  of  people  employed 
for  a  certain  output  is  proportionately  much  larger  where 
the  rate  of  pay  is  lower.  In  other  words,  that  a  higher  rate 
of  pay  more  than  compensates  in  the  output  by  the  results. 

The  Steamship  an  Illustration  of  Modern  Devel- 
opment.    Science  applied  to  Industry. 

A  collective  picture  of  what  science  has  done  for  the 
progress  of  the  race  in  the  field  of  industry  is  given  by 
the  steamboat.  The  greatest  results  of  the  combination  of 
science  and  work  are  seen  in  the  iron  monsters  which 
traverse  the  oceans  and  balance  the  deficiency  of  one  zone 
by  the  abundance  of  another.  All  the  sciences  hold  con- 
gress here.  The  latest  achievements  are  quickly  intro- 
duced, lest  some  rival  line  would  offer  cargo  space  at  a 
fraction  less.  But  comfort  and  health  of  the  passengers, 
steerage  or  cabin,  have  to  be  studied  no  less  than  the  ability 
of  carrying  the  greatest  bulk  at  the  minimum  of  cost.  The 
economy  of  space  and  of  power  becomes  the  chief  end  here. 
Chemistry  supplies  cold  storage  room  and  removes  from 
sea-water  the  salty  substance.  Electricity  gives  lights  and 
signals  and  power  to  the  many  inner  arrangements  of  these 
swimming  hotels  or  rather  towns,  considering  the  number 
of  temporary  inhabitants.  There  is  hardly  a  trade  which  is 
not  set  to  work  at  the  building  and  equipping  of  a  steamer. 
But  none  oi  the  advances  in  the  other  sciences  would  have 
availed  had  it  not  been  for  the  great  improvements  in 
machine  building.  It  would  hardly  be  possible  to  carry 
bulky  freight  long  distances  on  board  steamers,  were  their 
machinery  still  constructed  on  the  patterns  in  use  some 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago.     Nearly  all  the  storage  room  now 


104  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

consigned  to  freight  tonnage  would  be  given  to  fuel.  The 
compound  engine,  first  introduced  bj  Eandolph,  Elder  & 
Co.  in  1854,  was  soon  followed  by  the  triple  and  quadruple 
expansion  engine.  I  will  not  do  more  here  than  allude  to 
these  facts  and  let  the  reader  judge  of  the  economic  impor- 
tance of  these  marine  inventions  by  the  results.  The  first 
steamship  which  crossed  the  Atlantic  (1819)  was  the  Savan- 
nah, an  American  vessel.  Bat  as  she  was  a  sailer  fitted  up 
for  steam,  partly  sailing,  we  cannot  bring  her  in  except  as  a 
matter  of  record  and  to  do  homage  to  the  flag.  In  1833  the 
Royal  William  crossed  from  Quebec,  but  all  her  hold  had  to 
be  filled  with  fuel.  It  was  said  by  a  competent  authority 
in  1835,  that  "  As  to  the  project  which  was  announced 
in  the  newspapers  of  making  the  voyage  directly  from  New 
York  to  Liverpool  it  was  altogether  chimerical,  and  they 
might  as  well  talk  of  making  a  voyage  from  New  York  or 
Liverpool  to  the  moon."  If  prophesying  was  a  hazardous 
undertaking  even  in  an  age  of  faith,  it  is  still  more  so  in  the 
age  of  science.  The  Gfreai  Western  sailed  from  Bristol  first  in 
1838  and  consumed  between  12  days  7^  hours,  her  shortest, 
and  22  days  her  longest  passage.  Carlyle  said  in  connec- 
tion with  this,  that  "  The  success  of  the  Great  Western  left 
our  still  moist  paper  demonstration  to  dry  itself  at  leisure." 
These  earliest  steamers  used  10  pounds  of  coal  per  hour  to 
tlie  indicated  horse-power.  From  this,  by  the  rapid  intro- 
duction of  improvements,  the  consumption  of  coal  has 
gradually  come  down  to  less  than  1 J  pounds  per  horse-power 
per  hour.  With  less  than  one-eighth  of  storage  room  re- 
quired for  fuel,*  the  impetus  given  to  steam  navigation  and 

*  I  give  the  concise  history  of  the  improvements  from  a  paper  of  Mr. 
Henry  Dyer  in  the  Scottish  Review  : 

"  The  chief  stages  in  the  development  of  the  marine  engine  are  clearly 
marked  by  the  pressure  of  the  steam  used,  and  the  amount  of  coal  con- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  105 

the  carrying  trade  can  be  readily  imagined.  The  reader  is 
too  familiar  with  all  the  great  gifts,  civilizing,  liberalizing, 
enfranchising  from  the  thraldom  of  poverty  and  want  even, 
to  need  much  demonstration  from  the  author,  whose  object 
it  is  only  to  point  out  the  road  upon  which  the  human 
family  is  progressing  from  misery  and  dependence  to  free- 
dom and  prosperity. 

But  what  is  of  equal  interest  in  the  consideration  of  the 
steamboat,  in  our  review  of  the  industrial  aid  given  by 
science,  is  the  parallel  illustration  of  the  method  applied  to 
the  building  of  the  iron  monster  of  the  sea,  and  the  result 

sumed  per-indicated  horsepower  per  hour,  and  these  may  be  briefly  reca- 
pitulated. Until  about  1830  the  pressure  seldom  exceeded  three  pounds  on 
the  square  inch  above  that  of  the  atmosphere.  Prom  that  date  a  gradual 
increase  took  place,  and  in  1845  the  average  was  about  ten  pounds  on 
the  square  inch.  By  1850  it  had  reached  fifteen  pounds.  In  1856,  Ran- 
dolph, Elder  &  Co.  employed  pressures  of  thirty  pounds  in  their  com- 
pound engines,  but  it  was  not  till  almost  ten  years  later  that  such  pres- 
sures became  general  in  the  merchant  service.  On  the  compound  engine 
becoming  common,  pressures  rose  suddenly  to  sixty  and  in  some  cases  to 
eighty  and  one  hundred  pounds  on  the  square  inch,  and  now  for  triple 
expansion  engines  the  average  is  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds, 
while  for  quadruple  expansion  engines  it  is  two  hundred  pounds  on  the 
square  inch.  With  regard  to  coal  consumption,  the  earliest  marine 
engines  must  have  used  nearly  ten  pounds  per  indicated  horse-power  per 
hour.  In  the  well-known  side-lever  engines  it  was  about  seven  pounds, 
while  for  engines  in  use  before  the  general  introduction  of  the  compound 
type  four  to  four  and  one-half  pounds  was  the  average.  Randolph,  Elder 
&  Co.,  as  we  have  seen,  had  an  average  of  from  two  and  one-half  to 
three  pounds.  In  1872,  when  two-cylinder  compound  engines  had  been 
in  use  for  some  years,  the  average  was  foimd  to  be  about  2'11  pounds, 
being  a  saving  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  over  the  ordinary  engines,  while 
in  1881  there  was  a  reduction  to  1*828  pounds,  or  a  further  saving  of 
13"37  per  cent.  With  triple  and  quadruple  expansion  engines  there  has 
been  a  still  further  reduction  of  about  twenty-five  percent.,  the  consump- 
tion of  fuel  in  some  of  these  engines  being  as  low  as  one  and  one-half  or 
one  and  one-quarter  pounds  per  indicated  horse-power  per  hour." 


106  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

expressed  in  wages.  The  outfit  of  a  yard  is  a  marvellous 
collection  of  labor-saving  appliances.  Operations  are  now 
conducted  by  machinery  of  the  highest  efficiency,  which 
formerly  were  all  done  by  hand  and  hand  tools.  It  is  im- 
possible here  to  do  more  than  to  notice  in  a  general  way 
an  all-important  fact  with  which  we  can  fitly  conclude  the 
general  discussion  of  the  cause  and  effect  of  a  high  wage 
rate  in  the  mechanical  arts.  A  general  statement  will,  how- 
ever, cover  the  whole  case.  The  effect  of  all  the  improve- 
ments and  inventions  in  the  immense  mechanism  required 
has  been  a  constant  reduction  in  the  cost  of  building  per 
ton.  The  wages  paid  in  the  yards  of  Scotland  and  England 
are  the  highest  paid  in  any  calling.  At  times  of  activity 
the  earnings  in  the  trades  connected  with  the  building  rise 
to  £4  and  £5  a  week,  two  and  three  times  the  rates  paid  in 
outside  occupations.  Still  England  is  the  iron-boat  builder 
of  the  world,  and  is  only  equalled  by  America  in  regard  to 
high  wages  paid  to  the  worker  and  low  cost  of  construction 
by  the  ton.  In  1888  I  visited  the  yards  of  the  chief  steam- 
boat builders  in  Philadelphia,  They  were  building  then 
one  of  the  fast  cruisers.  Their  equipment  with  labor-saving 
apparatus  for  riveting  and  other  processes  was  as  perfect  as 
one  is  accustomed  to  find  in  American  shops.  The  firm's 
protective  proclivities  are  known.  Yet  they  had  to  confirm 
my  conviction  that  protection  did  injury  to  their  trade  by 
preventing  them  from  building  steamers  as  cheaply  as  the 
English,  by  the  following  statement : 

In  the  contract  for  the  cruiser,  estimates  were  invited 
from  English  builders.  Their  estimate  on  the  same  specifi- 
cations was  $1,200,000.  The  American  firm  obtained  the 
contract  for  the  sum  of  $1,350,000.  But  the  American  in- 
side fittings  are  far  superior  and  more  expensive  than  those 
submitted  by  the  English  firm,     A  member  of  the  firm  told 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  107 

me  that  on  the  basis  of  the  English  specifications  and  with 
the  materials  at  the  English  level  of  cost,  they  could  have 
produced  the  cruiser  at  the  same  price.  The  force  of  the 
argument  that  the  labor  diifferences  would  not  stand  in  the 
way  of  Americans  in  the  building  of  iron  steamers,  were 
the  duties  on  their  materials  abolished,  is  increased  by  the 
statement  of  a  fact  illustrative  of  the  development  in  ship- 
building. The  firm  referred  to  above  employs  a  riveting 
machine  for  riveting  boiler  shells,  the  shell  turning  on  a 
rotary  platform.  Before  the  introduction  of  the  machinery 
the  riveting  engaged  the  work  of  a  gang,  composed  of  two 
riveters,  one  holder,  and  two  boys,  for  two  full  weeks.  The 
same  work  is  now  performed  by  the  same  number  of  hands 
in  one  and  a  half  days'  time. 

A  saving  of  seven  days  out  of  eight  enables  the  payment 
of  a  higher  rate  without  interfering  with  the  competitive 
capacity  of  the  builders. 

With  this  we  will  conclude  this  general  consideration  of 
the  economy  of  high  wages  in  industrial  employments,  and 
turn  our  attention  to  the  question  of  the  supply  of  the 
wherewithals  which  uphold  the  force  and  strength  of  the 
labor,  the  supply  of  the  staff  of  life  which  determines 
the  actual  value  of  the  rate  of  wages. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

Proof  of  Principles  laid  down,  taken  from  Agriculture. — Application  of 
Scientific  Methods. — Great  Results. — Extending  the  Margin  of  Star- 
vation.— Every  Addition  to  the  Productiveness  of  the  Acre  an  Addi- 
tion to  the  Soil. 

The  questions  treated  in  the  preceding  chapters  find  no- 
■where  better  illustration  and  support  than  in  agriculture. 
In  no  other  branch  of  industrial  activity  are  the  gratifying 
results  so  easily  traceable  to  what  we  must  consider  the  pri- 
mary cause  of  all  progress  and  prosperity,  freedom  from 
restraint  and  security  of  possession,  as  in  agriculture.  In 
no  field  of  employment  can  it  be  shown  so  clearly  that  even 
the  difficulties  which  nature  may  impose  are  as  nothing 
against  the  indomitable  will  of  man  employing  his  best 
faculties  for  the  acquisition  of  possessions  guaranteed  to 
him  by  free  and  just  laws.  The  question  of  a  high  rate  of 
wages  is  practically  the  question  of  food,  etc.,  the  raw 
materials  of  which  are  the  produce  of  agriculture.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  we  cannot  well  consider  the  questions  here  intro- 
duced, as  satisfactorily  treated,  without  examining  the  de- 
velopment of  agriculture  along  with  the  other  branches  of 
human  activity.  It  will  serve,  therefore,  a  double  purpose : 
first,  in  allaying  apprehensions  that  growing  populations 
are  necessarily  causes  of  poverty  ;  and  second,  to  show  in- 
tellectual force  to  be  equally  effective  in  this  as  in  all  other 
employments,  and  able  to  overcome  difficulties  of  the  most 
formidable  character. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  109 

Ignorance   the   Cause  of  Poverty. 

The  end  of  the  eighteenth,  century  gave  birth,  to  theories 
which  made  everlasting  poverty  the  preordained  condition 
of  the  working  classes,  death  only  alleviating  the  miseries 
which  would  be  the  inevitable  consequence  of  growing  pop- 
ulations. 

It  is  reserved  for  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  dis- 
sipate the  fears  which  have  ever  since  haunted  the  imagina- 
tion. 

Poverty — abject  poverty — was  the  general  characteristic 
of  that  time.  Negro  slavery,  with  all  its  disgracing  features 
to  the  civilization  which  bred  it,  had  this  silver  streak  in  the 
cloud — that  it  fed  its  victims.  Hunger  and  want  did  not 
infest  the  cabins  of  the  slaves,  any  more  than  the  stable  of  the 
horse  or  other  four-legged  cattle.  But  who  can  read  the 
history  of  those  days,  and  not  be  moved  at  the  condition 
of  nine-tenths  of  the  people  of  England  and  Continental 
Europe?  There  bread  was  scarce  indeed,  and  hunger,  the 
gaunt  spectre  that  haunted  the  poor  man's  home.  The  pop- 
ulations were  sparse  compared  to  to-day.  In  England  the 
population  has  trebled,  while  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  the 
consumption  per  head  has  doubled.  True,  the  population 
could  not  subsist  on  to-day's  cultivated  area,  under  the 
present  system.  But  that  a  much  greater  population  could 
subsist  if  the  land  were  more  distributed  among  cultivating 
owners,  admits  of  no  doubt.  As  it  is,  every  year  more  and 
more  land  goes  out  of  cultivation  and  is  put  under  grass. 
In  the  last  twenty  years  not  less  than  three  million  acres 
have  gone  out  of  tillage.  What  this  means  can  be  seen  from 
the  fact  that  three  million  acres  would  grow  nearly  all  the 
wheat  which  is  imported  now  from  abroad.  By  improved 
cultivation  the  average  yield  per  acre  has  risen  to  thirty 


110  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES. 

bushels.  "We  can  easily  appreciate  the  significance  of  this 
fact,  when  we  consider  that  the  average  yield  in  wheat,  for 
France  is  from  16  to  17  bushels,  for  Germany  21  bushels, 
and  for  America  12  bushels.  English  soil  and  climate  are 
by  no  means  as  propitious  to  agriculture  as  those  of  the 
other  countries.*  England's  superior  yield  in  all  branches 
of  agriculture,  root  crops  and  hay  as  well  as  cereals,  is  due 

*  On  this  point  it  is  well  to  heai*  the  testimony  of  the  highest  authority 
on  comparative  agriculture,  since  the  days  of  Arthur  Young,  Mr.  L^nce 
deLavergne,  "  Essai  sur  I'economie  ruralede  I'Angleterre,  de  I'ficosse  et 
de  I'Irlande  (1854)  ":  "  Le  sol  et  le  climat  de  I'Angleterre  seront-ils  done 
naturellement  superieurs  aux  notres  ?  Bien  loin  de  \k.  Un  million 
d'hectares  sur  13  sont  restes  tout  k  fait  inproductifs  et  ont  resistes  jus- 
qu'ici  a  tons  les  efforts  de  I'homme  ;  sur  les  12  millions  restants,  deux 
tiers  au  moins  sont  des  terres  ingrates  et  rebelles  que  I'industrie  hu- 
maine  a  eu  besoin  de  conquerir." 

(Are,  then,  the  soil  and  climate  of  England  superior  by  nature  to  our 
own  ?  Far  from  it.  Out  of  18  million  hectares  one  million  have  remained 
entirely  unproductive  and  have  resisted  so  far  all  human  efforts.  Of  the 
remaining  12  millions  two-thirds  at  least  are  irresponsive  and  rebellious 
soils,  which  the  industry  of  man  had  to  conquer.) 

He  then  proceeds  to  analyze  the  country  by  sections  and  to  speak  of  the 
unpropitious  climate,  its  proverbial  fogs  and  rains,  and  of  the  excessive 
humidity,  "est  peu  favorable  au  froment  qui  est  le  but  principal  de  toute 
culture "  (little  favorable  to  wheat,  which  is  the  chief  end  of  agricul- 
ture), and  winds  up  in  the  comparison:  "Combien  le  sol  et  le  climat 
de  la  France  sont  superieurs !  En  comparant  h.  I'Angleterre,  non  plus  seule- 
ment  le  quart,  mais  la  moitie  nord-ouest  de  notre  territoire,  c'est-S,-dire 
les  trente-six  departements  qui  se  groupent  autour  de  Paris,  k  I'exclusion 
de  la  Bretagne,  nous  trouvons  plus  de  22  millions  d'hectares  qui  depassent, 
en  qualite  comme  en  quantite,  les  13  millions  d'hectares  anglais." 

(How  much  superior  the  soil  and  climate  of  France  !  Comparing  to 
England,  not  one-fourth  but  the  northwest  half  of  our  territory,  to  wit : 
the  thirty-six  departments  grouping  around  Paris,  with  the  exclusion  of 
Brittany,  we  find  more  than  22  million  hectares  which  surpass  in  quality 
as  in  quantity  the  13  million  hectares  of  England.) 

And  with  all  this  natural  inferiority,  there  results  :  nearly  two  bushels 
of  England  to  one  of  France. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  m 

alone  to  the  more  thorough  husbandry  and  introduction  of 
improvements  dating  from  the  early  part  of  last  century 
and  continuing  through  modern  days  through  conditions 
peculiarly  favorable  to  agriculture. 

Capital,  enterprise,  and  free  labor  (though  handicapped 
and  depressed)  were  turned  to  the  soil  at  a  time  when  all 
Europe  was  looking  with  contempt  on  agriculture,  and, 
excepting  the  countries  where  a  free  peasantry  had  survived, 
agricultural  labor  was  chafing  under  oppression  worse  than 
that  of  slaves. 

A  reaction  has  begun  to  set  in  which  makes  capital  with- 
draw from  land.  This  may  be  a  forerunner  of  a  new  era  in 
the  tenure  of  land,  by  which  even  a  greater  productiveness 
of  the  soil  may  be  brought  about  than  is  the  case  there  now. 
A  survey  of  the  field  shows  distinctly  that  where  holdings 
are  cultivated  by  the  owner,  supplied  with  sufficient  stock 
and  capital,  in  gross  and  net  yield  he  surpasses  by  far  the 
great  landowner  or  the  tenant  farmer,  even  of  England. 
This  is  to  show  how  rash  it  must  appear  to  set  a  limit  to 
the  food-producing  capacity  of  an  acre  of  ground  of  which 
an  immense  area  is  yet  awaiting  the  advent  of  the  tiller.  It 
is  equally  shortsighted  to  base  deductions  and  predictions 
on  existing  facts.  It  is  safer  to  accept  the  present  as  a 
halting  station  from  a  remote  past,  and  if  we  have  to  do  pre- 
dicting, let  at  least  experience  guide  us. 


Difference  in  Results  traceable  to  Institutions. 

Four  to  six  bushels  an  acre  was  the  average  net  yield, 
after  allowing  two  bushels  for  seed  corn,  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  in  England.  It  was  clearly  an  ex- 
tensive cultivation  of  a  large  area  of  soil  by  economically 


112  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

dear  and  individually  cheap  labor.  Under  conditions  then 
existing  this  was  the  best  system,  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
because  it  was  the  only  system  available.  The  modern  sys- 
tem gives  a  net  yield  of  twenty-eight  bushels.  Subdrainage, 
proper  manuring,*  rotation  of  crops,  etc.,  after  six  centuries 

*  The  efficacy  of  manuring  was  not  unknown  to  the  early  periods  of 
husbandry  in  England,  but  the  practice  was  of  a  very  rudimentary  kind. 
The  sheep  were  driven  into  the  eom-fields  after  harvesting,  as  the  drop- 
pings gave  the  manure  before  another  crop  was  sown.  The  owners  of 
flocks  were  paid  a  rent  in  money,  or  in  kind,  for  the  lending  of  their 
flocks  for  the  purpose  by  cultivators  who  had  no  sheep.  "  Sheep  were 
occasionally  hired  to  lie  on  the  ground.  This  must  evidently  have  been 
in  inclosures.  A  hundred  and  fifty  sheep  were  folded  on  an  acre  at  from 
la.  4d.  to  2s.  the  acre,  or  two  hundred  sheep  were  kept  on  a  field  at  %d. 
a  week  for  eight  weeks.  It  would  seem,  then,  that  such  a  flock  was  kept 
on  land  from  three  to  eight  weeks  in  order  to  fertilize  it,  the  owner,  of 
course,  feeding  them."— (J.  E.  Thorold  Rogers,  "  Six  Centuries  of  "Work 
and  Wages.") 

The  results  were  satisfactory  enough  where  even  this  sort  of  manuring 
could  be  applied.  But  it  must  be  seen,  from  what  we  know  of  the  state 
and  condition  of  live  stock  in  the  middle  ages,  that  even  this  fertilizing 
method  could  not  cover  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  land  then  under 
cultivation,  proportionately  greater  as  the  yield  per  acre  was  so  much 
smaller  than  to-day.  Fodder  was  scarce,  root  crops  unknown,  and  what 
live  stock  could  not  be  carried  over  the  winter  was  slaughtered  and  salted 
at  Martinmas. 

The  advantages  from  this  natural  manuring  explain  why  so  much  land 
is  allowed  to  go  out  of  cultivation  and  become  grazing  land  in  England. 

The  best  general  results  of  farming,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  relapse  of 
the  same  agricultural  land  into  grazing,  on  the  other  :  Ao  anomaly,  a 
paradox.  Yes  and  no.  If  the  cultivator  and  the  owner  were  one  and  the 
same  person,  he  would  probably  continue  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  besides 
raise  and  keep  a  large  amount  of  live  stock,  as  in  Holland  and  Belgium, 
etc. ,  on  the  farm.  As  it  is,  the  two  interests  clash.  Each  wants  to  draw 
as  much  out  of  the  joint  business,  and  put  as  little  into  it,  as  possible. 
The  landlord  wants  to  get  his  rent.  The  tenant  is  restricted  by  his  lease 
in  ways  hardly  known  to  outsiders.  For  instance,  he  must  not  sell  any 
straw  or  hay,  as  it  is  expressed  in  some  leases  of  which  I  know.  The 
object  of  this  is  to  force  him  to  feed  it  all  to  live  stock  on  the  farm,  so  as 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  113 

of  cultivation,  not  alone  yield  five  bushels  where  one  grew 
before,  but  the  net  results,  after  all  deductions  are  made  for 
labor  and  capital  employed,  are  far  greater  and  are  in  dis- 
tinct opposition  to  maxims  handed  down,  of  diminishing 
returns,  etc.     This  can  be  shown  to  have  followed  in  the 

to  keep  the  property  in  good  condition,  though  it  be  ever  so  hard  to  get 
the  landlord  to  do  anything  in  the  way  of  improvements  or  even  repairs, 
his  part  in  the  transaction.  A  friend  of  mine,  a  pottery  manufacturer  in 
]!Torth  Staffordshire,  bought  a  stack  of  hay  at  quite  a  reduction  for  imme- 
diate delivery  and  for  cash,  because  the  landlord's  agent  was  soon  expected 
to  be  on  the  farm.  The  farmer  feared  that,  if  the  landlord  knew  that  at 
the  time  so  near  haying  he  had  hay  to  the  value  of  £75,  he  would  raise  his 
rent,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  farmer  wanted  a  reduction.  The 
reader  can  understand  that  the  results,  ever  so  satisfactory  from  a  statis- 
tical point  of  view,  are  by  no  means  equally  pleasing  to  the  farmer.  That 
he  could  make  his  position  greatly  superior  to  what  it  is  to-day  (even 
paying  his  rent  of  2o5.  to  30s.  per  acre  of  good  wheat-land)  I  can  prove 
by  facts  gathered  in  ray  investigations.  But  to  do  this  would  require 
more  space  than  I  can  give  the  subject  here.  I  am  not  writing  a  treatise 
on  general  economics,  but  simply  on  the  facts  which  have  contributed  so 
powerfully  to  make  the  position  of  the  working  classes  superior  to  any 
which  they  have  ever  occupied  in  the  history  of  man. 

Here  I  will  only  say  that  a  good  deal  of  land  is  allowed  to  go  out  of 
cultivation  because,  under  present  conditions,  stock-raising  pays  better. 
A  landowner  of  my  acquaintance  had  about  a  thousand  acres  of  land. 
Part  of  it  he  let  to  a  tenant,  another  part  he  farmed  himself.  The 
tenant's  holding  came  back  to  him  because  of  his  inability  to  pay  the 
rent,  2o».  to  28«.  The  owner  turned  the  land  into  grass,  and  put  lean 
cattle  on  to  fatten.  It  has  become  quite  an  extensive  practice  to  buy  lean 
Irish  cattle  in  the  spring.  After  grazing  five  months  the  cattle  are  sleek 
and  rounded.  After  allowing  for  the  help  required,  a  man  and  a  boy  for 
about  300  head,  the  year's  operation  yielded  to  my  friend  about  £3.10  a 
head.  This,  deducting  for  the  value  of  the  land  a  rent  of  25s.,  still 
leaves  a  net  income  of  £2.5,  and  points  a  very  strong  moral  in  the 
direction  indicated.  But  the  point  which  I  want  to  emphasize^  the 
natural  manuring,  comes  here  into  view.  The  land  on  which  the  cattle 
had  been  grazing,  and  over  which  I  went  with  the  proprietor,  was  decid- 
edly the  richer  for  it,  as  was  shown  by  the  density  of  the  growth  com- 
pared with  adjoining  grass-land  on  which  the  cattle  had  not  been,     A 


114  THE  ECONOMY  OF  MIGH   WAGES. 

successive  stages  marking  the  period  of  evolution  from 
the  rudimentary  to  the  high  cultivation  of  the  soil.  But  the 
distinctions  which  mark  the  two  ends  of  our  chronological 
line  exist  to-daj,  though  the  line  is  now  a  geographical  one. 
Let  us  take  Kussia  and  its  mode  of  cultivation.  The  gross 
average  yield  per  acre  for  all  Eussia  is  not  more  than  that 
of  England  was  then.  It  follows  that  the  yield  of  the  more 
backward  provinces  is  smaller  yet  than  this  average.  The 
system  of  cultivation  (if  it  can  be  called  a  system)  is  of 
such  nature  that  it  would  be  surprising  if  better  results  were 
reached.  The  terrible  famine  now  devastating  a  territory 
where  twenty  millions  of  human  beings  drag  out  a  miserable 
existence  even  in  good  years,  is  eloquent  testimony.  Plow- 
ing is  done  in  the  most  superficial  manner,  with  wide  spaces 
left  between  the  furrows.  A  German  traveller,  pointing  out 
to  a  nobleman  farming  his  own  estate,  the  wastefulness  of 
this  system,  was  answered,  "  Oh,  we  grow  corn  enough  for 
our  own  purposes.  If  we  grew  more  we  should  not  know 
what  to  do  with  it."  And  this,  in  part,  explains,  as  it  illus- 
trates, existing  conditions.  As  it  is,  the  commissioner  sent 
by  Germany  on  a  mission  of  inquiry  as  to  the  prospect  and 
aspect  of  the  wheat  cultivation  of  the  world,  told  me  that  he 
found  that  the  peasants  and  cultivators  cut  only  what  corn 
they  require  for  their  own  use  or  what  they  can  find  a  mar- 
ket for,  and  let  the  rest  stand  for  the  hogs  to  feed  on.  Im- 
provements in  methods  follow  in  the  wake  of  an  extension 

double  advantage,  which,  of  course,  explains  a  great  deal  in  the  chang- 
ing agricultural  conditions  of  England. 

Of  course,  the  best  quantitative  returns  are  not  produced  thereby,  as  by 
the  combination  of  the  two  systems  in  Holland,  Belgium,  the  Rhinelands, 
Lombardy,  Switzerland,  and  the  best  farmed  parts  of  France  and  the 
Scandinavian  countries.  But  here  I  desire  only  to  explain  certain  rather 
contradictory  phenomena  in  contemporaneous  agricultural  history  and 
the  efficacy  of  natural  manuring  under  certain  conditions. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  115 

of  markets,  or  rather,  of  roads  and  railroads.  But  even  such 
advantages  as  would  elsewhere  arise  from  this,  are  largely 
neutralized  by  the  prevailing  system  of  political  and  eco- 
nomic oppression  standing  in  the  name  of  government. 

Where  roads  are  absent,  plenty  may  rule  in  one  province 
and  famine  in  the  adjoining  one.  Still,  no  relief  can  be 
given  to  the  suffering  neighbor,  while  the  plenty  may  be  of 
no  economic  value  to  the  possessor  of  it.  This  is  the  nor- 
mal condition  of  countries  like  Eussia,  plenty  alternating 
with  scarcity  and  starvation.  The  present  famine  is  only 
an  intense  aggravation  of  evils  which  show  themselves 
almost  every  year.  They  show  themselves  where  agricul- 
ture has  no  other  resources  than  the  rudimentary  labor 
processes  of  olden  times,  and  has  to  trust  to  the  elements 
for  the  rest. 

Modern    Russian   Agriculture  on    a    Level   -with 
English  Agriculture  of  the  Thirteenth  Century. 

How  the  peasantry  of  Russia  are  equipped  mentally  and 
materially  for  their  struggle  with  mother  earth  can  be  seen 
from  an  extract  of  an  article  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for 
February,  1891,  by  Lanin,  a  writer  most  fully  informed  on 
the  economic  conditions  of  what  Carl  Emil  Franzos  very 
properly  calls  "  Halb-Asien  "  (Semi- Asia) : 

"  Plows  are  so  scarce  among  petty  farmers  that  the  Moscow  Zemstvo 
lends  a  number  of  them  gratis  every  year  in  the  hope  of  inducing  the  peas- 
ants to  buy  them  ;  and  as  for  scythes— a  primitive  instrument  enough  in 
these  days  of  mowing  machines — the  peasants  of  large  districts  of  some  of 
the  finest  meadowlands  in  all  Russia  have  not  yet  begun  to  see  their  util- 
ity. In  the  rich  meadows  of  the  Dvina  Valley,  the  peasants  mow  the  grass 
with  an  implement  called  a  'hump' — a  large  reaping  hook,  two  feet  in 
diameter,  which,  though  too  heavy  for  one  hand,  has  but  one  handle  for 
both.  In  order  to  mow  with  this  the  laborer  must  double  himself  up, 
holding  the  short  handle  in  both  hands,  and  turn  the  '  hump '  round  after 


116  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

each  stroke  from  right  to  left  and  from  left  to  right,  so  that  its  edge  may 
be  turned  towards  the  grass  to  be  cut  down  by  the  next  stroke.  It  is  a 
species  of  torture  to  mow  thus  :  '  It  is  hard  to  breathe,  the  blood  rises  to 
your  head,  and  on  a  hot  day  you  have  not  the  faintest  shade  around," 

says  the  Moscow  Gazette  to  emphasize  the  torturous  proceed- 
ing. 

Agriculture  is  not  conducted  on  a  higher  level  in  Poland 
either.  Cause  and  effect  are  everywhere  the  same.  Stupe- 
fying the  tiller  by  oppression,  and  robbing  him  of  the  fruit 
of  his  labor,  cannot  produce  other  results. 

Instances  related  in  "Die  Grenzboten,"  the  experience  of 
one  who  studied  the  conditions  by  living  for  years  among 
them,  explain  in  an  unmistakable  manner  the  low  state  of 
agriculture  resulting  from  the  oppression  under  which  the 
Polish  peasants  have  languished. 

"  I  lived  for  nearly  a  year  on  the  estate  of  a  Pole,  as  a  guest.  I  had  con- 
sented to  introduce  some  German  improvements  into  his  economy.  My 
first  act  was  to  have  the  stones  and  boulders  removed  from  some  of  the 
nearest  fields.  The  peasants  helped  with  pleasure.  But  now  there  was 
to  be  an  attack  on  their  beloved  fruit-trees.  When  I  gave  the  overseer 
the  order  to  remove  these  wild  trees  the  next  morning  they  looked  at  each 
other  with  long  faces.  I  had  hardly  gone  to  sleep  when  by  a  hundred 
voices  the  cry  was  raised  :  'Oh,  dear  sir,  we  beseech  yon.'  They  asked 
for  a  hearing.  I  was  more-gracious  than  is  the  custom  here,  sprang  from 
my  bag  of  hay — a  bag  of  hay  under  the  sleeper,  a  silk  quilt  over  him,  and 
a  horsehair  pillow  under  his  head,  is  the  bed  of  the  Pole — and  opened  the 
door,  which  led  immediately  into  the  open,  as  is  very  frequently  the  case 
in  Poland. 

"  Some  thirty  men  and  women,  the  tears  running  down  their  faces  and 
screaming  wildly,  rushed  into  the  room.  Their  only  words  were  :  '  Oh, 
we  beg  of  you,  forgive  the  fruit-trees  ! '  meaning,  preserve  the  trees.  I 
assured  them  that  it  was  on  account  of  the  injury  to  the  growing  crops 
that  I  wanted  to  remove  them.  But  this  did  not  quiet  them.  Finally  I 
promised  every  head  of  a  family  a  dozen  cultivated  fruit-trees  as  a  present 
by  next  spring.  *0h,  no,  no,  sir,'  they  answered  ;  'these  we  cannot 
have.'  'And  why  not?'  'No,  the  count  would  not  allow  it.'  'And 
why  not?'     'Such  fruit  is  reserved  for  the  nobility.'    'And  have  you 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH    WAGES.  \\1 

asked  the  count  about  it  ?  '  '  No,  but  we  know  it.'  '  Yes,  kind  German 
sir'(gutiger  Herr  Deutscher),  a  venerable  peasant  returned,  'we  know 
it  for  certain.  I  once  planted  behind  my  cottage  two  plum-trees,  which 
a  seed-dealer  had  given  me  in  payment  for  some  carting  I  had  done  for 
him.  Hardly  had  our  gracious  lord  (der  gnadige  Herr)  noticed  them 
than  he  broke  them  up  with  the  remark,  "  Such  fruit  does  not  become  the 
peasants  to  eat."    And  I  got  some  cuts  from  his  whip  into  the  bargain.' 

"Of  course,"  continues  our  author,  "  under  such  conditions  it  would 
have  been  barbarous  to  execute  the  order.  I  revoked  it,  and  the  abomin- 
able trees  are  no  doubt  on  the  field  to  this  day  It  is  easy  to  see,  from 
this,  how  closely  connected  the  low  state  of  Polish  agriculture  is  with 
the  conditions  of  the  people  and  how  difficult  it  is  to  reform  it." 

"Every  face  bespeaks  the  relation  of  serfdom;  laziness,  hopelessness, 
dread  and  fear  show  at  once  in  look  and  gesture.  If  possible,  the  peas- 
ant evades  the  noble  and  the  well  dressed — as  every  such  he  considers  a 
nobleman.  But  if  not  possible,  he  uncovers  his  head  at  a  distance  of 
forty  to  fifty  paces,  and  passes  with  his  head  bowed  nearly  to  the  ground 
and  his  cap  stretched  towards  the  recipient  of  the  homage." 

Everything  in  the  life  of  the  peasants  depended  on  the 
good  will  of  the  owner  of  the  soil.  Any  sign  of  prosperity 
would  result  in  greater  exactions.  His  direct  efforts  were, 
therefore,  to  make  the  part  open  to  observation  look  as  mis- 
erable as  possible,  the  land  bear  the  poorest  crops,  and  the 
hovel  in  which  he  lived  as  forlorn  as  a  human  habitation  can 
be.  All  his  cunning  was  directed  to  concealment  from  the 
rapacious  eyes  of  the  landlord. 

"  If  the  peasant  cultivates  his  farm  with  care,  and  realizes  good  crops, 
the  owner  would  not  hesitate  long  to  take  away  a  piece  of  land.  If  the 
peasant  has  luck  in  raising  stock,  if  he  raises  a  few  bullocks,  or  increases 
the  number  of  his  sheep,  immediately  the  landlord  will  appear  and  take 
away  his  surplus  stock  with  the  remark  that  he  has  no  right  to  own  more 
than  what  had  been  turned  over  to  him,  and  that  he  is  entitled  to  raise  a 
head  only,  if  he  has  killed  or  lost  one  from  the  inventory.  Consequently, 
if  the  peasant  would  utilize  stock  raising,  he  has  to  act  like  a  thief,  conceal 
the  additions  in  every  conceivable  manner  (to  which  proceeding  the  pasture 
in  the  dense,  dark  forest  offers  the  best  opportunity)  and  to  bring  them 
as  slyly  as  possible  for  sale  to  the  nearest  town.  He  has  to  anticipate  the 
robber  proclivities  of  the  landlord  by  the  cuteness  of  the  thief." 


118  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

Such  conditions  explain  everything  in  the  political,  eco- 
nomic and  social  situation  of  these  countries.*    We  need  not 

*  Serfdom  was  abolished  in  Poland  in  1807,  but  the  peasantry,  though 
nominally  free,  had,  in  return  for  land,  stock,  etc.,  to  give  the  landlord 
their  services,  and  were  held  in  a  state  of  dependence  and  oppression 
fully  as  bad  as  it  had  been  under  serfdom.  That  the  state  described  above 
pretty  fairly  illustrates  the  general  condition  and  is  not  overdrawn,  is 
proven  by  the  fact  that  in  the  Polish  revolution  of  1861-63  the  peasantry 
sided  with  the  Russians.  All  the  endeavors  of  the  Insurrectionary  Com- 
mittee to  draw  them  to  the  national  cause  by  ever  so  many  fine  promises 
would  not  prevail  with  them.  But  on  the  contrary  they  sided  with  the 
Russians  and  were  the  only  effective  instrument  to  break  up  the  revolu- 
tionary bands.  In  return  for  these  services  the  Russian  government 
materially  advanced  the  position  of  the  peasants  by  making  them  free 
owners  of  the  land  which  they  held,  wherever  it  was  found  that  the  land- 
lord had  sided  with  the  revolutionists.  But  though  the  conditions  have 
changed  outwardly,  the  improvements  in  agriculture  and  in  general  pros- 
perity are  not  yet  very  marked.  For  this  an  entirely  different  system  of 
government  is  required  than  Russia  can  give.  The  facts  here  stated  are 
a  lesson  of  great  significance.  The  Nemesis  of  history  has  wreaked  her 
revenge  on  the  Polish  nation.  By  separating  the  peasantry  from  the  life 
and  interests  of  the  nation  by  cruelty  and  oppression,  the  privileged 
classes  gave  the  chief  instrument  of  destruction  into  the  hands  of  the 
Russian  executioner. 

If  we  took  our  lights  from  the  history  and  conditions  of  the  common 
people,  we  should  easily  understand  the  political  aspect  and  prospects  of 
nations,  which  the  descriptions  of  the  doings  of  kings,  of  wars  and  diplo- 
matic scheming,  can  never  make  clear.  Searching  the  archives  helps  us 
little  if  we  neglect  to  look  into  the  open  book  of  a  people's  daily  life.  If 
we  find  a  nation  so  separated,  as  by  impassable  barriers,  that  nine-tenths 
are  in  a  state  akin  to  slavery  and  a  very  small  class  of  the  privileged 
exercise  power,  it  can  be  easily  understood  why  the,  apparently,  most 
powerful  nations  are  so  easily  overthrown  whenever  they  come  to  a  test- 
ing of  their  strength.  Little  are  we  inclined  to  look  into  the  economic 
status  of  the  Russian  peasant  when  we  try  to  explain  the  almost  proverbial 
discomfiture  of  Russia  on  measuring  her  strength  even  with  Turkey. 

Little  do  we  look  into  the  socio-economic  fabric  of  Poland  when  we  write 
about  her  overthrow  and  the  futile  attempts  of  her  people  to  regain  their 
liberty.  The  "  people"  were  always  a  few.  The  masses  were  serfs,  and 
took  little  interest  in  the  heroic  struggles  of  their  superiors.    The  peasantry 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  119 

search  for  other  causes  in  explanation  of  the  low  yield  of 
their  agriculture. 

Compare  this  with  the  best  systems  of  cultivation,  such 
as  pointed  out  above,  for  England,  as  regards  large  tenant 
farming,  not  nearly  so  productive  as  where  proprietorship  of 
holdings  under  fifty  acres  prevails,  and  land  worked  under  the 
best  methods  with  sufficient  stock  etc.,  as  in  Holland,  Flan- 
ders, Lombardy,  the  Scandinavian  countries,  and  many  parts 
of  Germany  and  France,  and  draw  a  balance.  We  can  then 
compare  what  an  acre  can  be  made  to  yield  by  the  grace  of 
nature  and  the  work  of  barbarians  held  in  ignorance  by  a 
despotic  govenraent,  and  what  by  the  work  of  intelligent 
beings  helped  by  all  the  appliances  which  modern  science 
has  put  at  their  disposal. 

High  Results  of  Ownership  by  the  Tiller  under 
Free  La-ws. 

Holland  is  the  best  field  from  which  to  draw  the  proof 
that  some  of  the  worst  natural  conditions  can  be  changed 
so  that  they  produce  the  very  best  results.  The  alluvial 
regions  made  by  the  deposits  of  the  three  rivers — ^the  Rhine, 
the  Scheldt,  and  the  Meuse— are  extremely  fertile.  The 
flat  lands  require  constant,  careful  labor  to  protect  them 
from  being  swept  away  by  the  ocean.  Up  to  the  early  part 
of  this  century  great  inundations  were  matters  of  regular 
occurrence.  They  destroyed  the  fields,  swept  away  the 
improvements,  cattle,  and  men.  It  is  stated  that  from  625 
to  about  1825 — a  period  of  1,300  years — some  200  great 
floods  have  gone  over  the  land,  which  would  make  an  aver- 

could  not  possibly  fare  worse  in  changing  masters.  The  Russian  was 
looked  upon  with  favor  even,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  because  of  the 
enmity  of  the  Polish  nobility  to  him. 


120  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

age  of  one  in  seven  years.  To  lay  dry  the  Harlem  Meer 
and  to  build  the  works  of  defence  of  the  17,000  hectares 
(about  40,000  acres)  gained  therefrom,  took  an  outlay  of 
9,000,000  florins.  To  keep  the  lands  in  cultivable  con- 
dition implies  constant  pumping  operations.  Wind-mills 
are  erected  all  over  to  operate  pumps  emptying  the  water 
into  the  network  of  canals  traversing  the  country.  The 
annual  expense  to  the  government  for  its  water-works  is 
about  6,000,000  of  florins.  This  is  independent  of  the  bur- 
dens of  the  communes  incurred  for  the  purposes  indicated. 
The  good  soil  is  considerably  less  than  one-half  of  the  total 
acreage  of  the  kingdom.  It  comprises  but  1,500,000  hec- 
tares (3,700,000  acres).  The  other  part,  about  1,800,000 
hectares  (4,400,000  acres),  is  mostly  indifferent,  and  a  very 
large  proportion  very  poor  land.  One-fourth  of  the  acreage, 
or  some  800,000  hectares  (2,000,000  acres),  about  twenty- 
five  years  ago  were  waste  lands.  But  even  these  heath  and 
turf  lands  are  gradually  brought  into  subjection.  The  most 
refractory  soils  are  brought  under  the  yoke  of  cultivation. 
Of  course,  the  labor  expended  is  so  incessant,  so  meagre  of 
first  results,  that  no  inducement  could  make  people  undergo 
the  hardships  involved  unless  directed  by  the  most  dire 
necessity.  No  incentive  could  hold  people  on  such  land 
except  ownership  of  land  so  directly  the  result  of  the  labor- 
er's exertions.  This  is  not  the  place  to  give  an  account  in 
detail  of  the  labor  involved  to  make  the  sands  of  the  dunes, 
the  unproductive  soil  of  the  heath,  and  the  bog  become 
gradually  but  permanently  productive.  They  become  pro- 
ductive with  increasing  yield  to  the  free  peasant  owner. 
Capitalistic  exploitation  would  be  entirely  inadequate.  But 
possession  of  the  fruits  of  one's  labor  is  here,  as  in  other 
fields  of  employment,  the  incentive  for  the  fullest  exercise 
of  the  individual's  exertions.     As  it  is,  with  the  land  owned 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  121 

by  the  farmer  all  over  Holland,  and  under  the  most  intelli- 
gent methods  applicable  to  the  varying  conditions  of  the 
soil,  the  6,500,000  acres  now  under  cultivaticjn  produce 
enough  to  feed  abundantly  the  4,500,000  of  the  population 
of  the  kingdom.  The  imports  and  exports  of  food  products 
about  balance  each  other  in  value.  No  farming  population 
of  the  most  favored  countries  of  the  world  can  be  compared 
with  the  Dutch  in  wealth,  comfort,  culture  and  general 
well-being.  The  treasures  of  gold,  silver,  rare  china  and 
furniture  heaped  up  for  generations  and  found  in  plain 
peasant  farmers'  houses,  would  in  themselves  be  a  most 
forcible  demonstration  of  the  difference,  were  not  other  and 
more  direct  testimony  at  hand.  But  what  escaped  the 
covetousness  of  the  powerful  in  the  critical  centuries  when 
land  grasping  made  serfs  of  the  peasantry  of  most  European 
countries  has  now  become  the  corner-stone  of  Holland's 
prosperity  when  all  other  resources  have  given  way  before 
the  rivalry  of  more  powerful  nations.  Even  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  Hollanders  and  Frisian  peasants  sent 
home  with  bloody  heads  the  barons  who  had  ready  for 
them  the  yokes  of  feudalism  and  serfdom,  then  slipped  so 
deftly  over  the  shoulders  of  the  peasantry  of  less  fortunate 
countries.  William  of  Holland  had  no  more  satisfactory 
results  from  his  mission  of  armed  persuasion  than  the  Leo- 
polds of  Austria  in  Switzerland.*     Switzerland  and  Hol- 

*  The  lessons  here  written  in  the  impressive  language  of  the  bloody  field 
are  as  intei-esting,  and,  in  their  consequences,  far  more  important  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  student  than  those  of  the  battles  of  Marathon  and  Platsea. 
(I  by  no  means  undervalue  the  importance  of  these.)  But  how  many  out  of 
a  thousand  who  know  of  the  Athenians  beating  in  open  battle  the  hosts  of 
the  Persian,  have  ever  heard  of  the  day  when  the  peasants  of  Drenthe, 
Groeningen,  Friesland,  and  Oldenburg,  defeated  William,  his  valorous 
knights,  and  an  army  of  30,000  men  ?  Poor  William  !  A  Dutchman  him- 
self, he  ought  to  have  known  something  of  the  nature  of  the  mind  of  his 


122  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

land,  the  guardians  of  the  sources  and  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Khine,  were  left  in  the  fortunate  possession  of  the  only 
incentive  powerful  enough  to  overcome  all  other  obstacles 
— the  possession  of  libert}^  They  were  left  in  the  posses- 
sion  because  they  had  the  manliness  to  defend  it  against  all 
who  were  rash  enough  to  try  to  wrest  it  from  them. 

General   Farming   Results  in  Europe  Oonflrma- 
tory  of  the  Principle. 

Figures,  if  correctly  read,  convey  more  intelligence  than 
argument.  To  be  convincing  they  must  not  contain  in  their 
make-up  unrelated  parts,  and  their  application  must  not  be 
misdirected     Comparisons  of  agricultural  returns  of  all  the 

countrymen.  A  Dutchman,  the  most  unimaginative  of  men,  to  value  cor- 
rectly the  romance  and  glory  of  the  Middle  Ages,  monkery,  chivalry,  and 
lordly  manors,  chatelains  and  chatelaines,  and  the  benevolence  of  mighty 
lords  to  humble  serfs,  in  exchange  for  such  unpoetic  realities  as  time-old 
liberty  and  freehold,  allodial  instead  of  feudal  tenure  and  serfdom  I 
Well,  William  paid  dearly  for  the  mistake.  In  trying  to  make  proselytes 
of  his  countrymen  to  the  new  idea,  he  lost  his  crown  and  his  life.  His 
German  kingship,  no  more  than  his  fine  armor,  protected  him  against  the 
irresistible  argument  of  the  Saxon  battle-axe.  The  Dutch  blows  fell 
with  equal  impartiality  on  the  heads  of  the  highest  and  of  the  lowest  on 
that  day  almost  forgotten  by  history.  The  victory  was  as  important  and 
far-reaching  in  its  consequences  as  any  event  in  the  days  when  the  battle 
was  fought  against  Spanish  oppression  on  the  same  fields.  Without  the 
former  the  latter  would  not  have  taken  place. 

Nor  were  the  bishops  and  knights  more  successful  when  they  tried 
their  efforts  on  parts  to  the  southwest.  The  peasants  of  Utrecht,  Har- 
lem, and  other  parts  of  Holland  were  equally  unwilling  to  bear  a  yoke 
which  their  neighbors  to  the  northeast  had  so  rudely  rejected.  It  was 
some  fifteen  years  later  that  they,  too,  made  short  work  of  the  missionary 
hosts  in  armor  sent  against  them.  Ever  after,  the  soil  to  the  south  of  the 
German  Ocean  was  very  unpropitious  to  the  growth  of  a  landed,  privi- 
leged class,  a  rich  and  powerful  nobility,  and  a  poor,  enslaved  peasantry. 
Neither  of  them  ever  took  root. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 


123 


different  nations  leave  us  free  from  any  imputation  of  indi- 
rectness. The  annual  returns  of  farming  in  Europe  prove 
so  fully  the  correctness  of  the  views  expressed,  that  it  seems 
strange  that,  published  as  they  are  from  year  to  year  by  the 
respective  governments,  they  have  not  made  more  of  an  im- 
pression on  the  public  mind  and  dispelled  the  fears  still 
haunting  the  imagination.  Not  to  weary  with  too  many  fig- 
ures I  have  reduced  the  total  product  and  average  of  each 
crop  of  the  cereal  products  to  number  of  bushels  per  acre, 
leaving  out  decimals  for  easier  tabulation.  I  have  usually 
averaged  the  crops  of  three  years,  so  as  not  to  fall  into 
spurious  comparisons,  such  as  comparing  an  extraordinary 
harvest  of  one  country  with  poor  harvests  of  other  coun- 
tries, falling  into  any  one  year. 

YIELD  IN  BUSHELS  PER  ACRE  OP  THE  DIFFERENT  COUN- 
TRIES OP  EUROPE  IN  THE  DIFFERENT  CORN  CROPS 
AND  POTATOES.* 


fc- 

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a 
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o 

V 

pj 

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tq 

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« 

& 

CD 

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n 

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Wheat 

7 

10 

16 

17 

22 

22 

29 

25 

24 

23 

29 

30 

9H 

Spelt 

Barley 

9 

1"^ 

19 

91 

9,n 

9R 

est 

37  C 

SO 

AO 

40 

8S 

86 

Oats 

16 
10 

14 
18 

22 

17 

27 
17 

19 

18 

29 
28 

30 
25 

37 

27 

44 
28 

40 
22 

39 

^10 

Rye 

Maize 

12 

80 

16 
67 

19 

12 

138 

28 
18 

121 

10 
140 

15 
115 

180 

150 

220 

28 

112 

20 
200 

234 

Buckwheat 

Potatoes 

140 

It  -will   be   admitted   by  everybody  that   the  trinity  of 
causes,  directing  the  current  of  civilization,  according   to 

*  Agricultural  Returns  of  Great  Britain. 


124  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Buckle :  soil,  climate,  and  the  general  aspect  of  nature,  is  in 
favor  of  the  first-named  four  States  and  against  the  sequence 
of  States  following.  Italy  certainly  ought  to  give  the  rich- 
est results ;  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Denmark,  the  poorest 
The  mere  mention  of  the  name  of  the  southern  country  is 
connected  in  our  imagination  with  fecundity  and  abundance. 
The  north  opens  up  visions  of  sterility  and  scarcity  under 
bleak  winds  and  forbidding  skies.  And,  indeed,  the  early 
inhabitants  of  the  thinly  settled  countries  were  driven  from 
the  inhospitable  shores  by  scarcity,  and  attracted  to  the  south- 
ern countries  by  the  abundance  which  they  promised.  The 
southern  climes  certainly  held  abundance  compared  to  the 
poor  returns  of  the  home  farm  under  this  rude  system  of 
agriculture.  The  younger  sons  had  to  go  abroad  under  the 
lead  of  a  chieftain,  the  dreaded  rovers  of  the  sea.  The  land 
could  only  support  a  very  limited  number.  But  how  are 
things  changed  !  Italy  has  to  import  large  quantities  of 
cereals  under  a  system  of  cultivation  which,  with  all  the 
advantages  of  nature's  smiles  thrown  in,  does  not  produce 
more  than  one-half  to  one-third  of  the  returns  of  the  north- 
ern countries.  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  it  is 
true,  import  corn ;  but  their  exports  of  animal  products 
largely  exceed  in  value  the  imports  of  bread-stuffs.  With  a 
yield  as  high  per  acre  as  in  the  northern  countries,  Italy 
would  be  a  large  exporter  of  bread-stuffs,  as  nearly  half  her 
area  under  cultivation  is  planted  in  wheat.  The  average 
represents  the  advanced  farming  of  Lombardy  as  well  as  the 
backward  condition  of  the  rest  of  Italy.  Allowing  for  this 
the  pro  rata  for  the  rest  of  the  kingdom  would  find  a 
diminution  of  20  per  cent,  in  the  respective  figures  of  the 
above  tables. 

While  the  average  of  the  provinces  outside  of  Lombardy 
and  Piedmont  would  not  be  above  8  bushels  in  wheat  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  125 

14  in  maize,  Lombardv  gives  over  22  in  wheat  and  over  40 
in  maize.  The  12,000,000  acres  under  wheat  would  at  the 
latter  rate  give  260,000,000  bushels,  and  the  4,500,000  acres 
under  maize,  180,000,000  bushels;  instead  of  the  actual  yield 
of  120,000,000  of  the  former  and  75,000,000  bushels  of  the 
latter  cereal  (the  chief  food  of  the  common  people). 

Causes  of  Lombardy's  Superior  Agriculture. 

Lombardy's  agriculture  not  alone  feeds  her  populous 
towns  but  adds  largely  to  the  export  values  of  the  country ; 
principally  raw  silk,  rice,  cheese,  and  even  wheat  are  articles 
of  export  from  Lombardy. 

"  By  means  of  her  silk,  Lombardy  pays  for  her  purchases  from  abroad, 
and  turns  the  balance  of  trade  in  her  favor.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
product  of  silk  amounts  annually  to  a  hundred  millions  of  francs."  * 

This  was  written  some  thirty  years  ago.  The  silk  prod- 
uct amounts  to  much  more  now.  The  exports  of  raw  silk, 
alone,  amount  to  some  two  hundred  millions  of  francs,  the 
greater  part  of  which  is  raised  in  Lombardy. 

The  wealth  of  Lombardy  is  based  on  agriculture  chiefly, 
widely  distributed  among  a  large  number  of  peasant  pro- 
prietors. The  foundation  of  its  wealth  could  not  be  sapped 
even  by  the  rule  of  the  Hapsburgs.  The  energy,  as  well  as 
the  love  of  liberty,  of,  its  early  citizens  planted  the  roots  of 
the  tree  from  which,  after  centuries,  the  descendants  reap 
golden  harvests.  Nature,  like  the  fierce  Brunhild,  has  to 
be  conquered  by  the  strong  will  of  man  before  she  yields 

*  "  C'est  au  moyen  de  la  sole,  dont  une  grande  partie  est  exportee,  que 
la  Lombardie  pale  ses  achats  a  I'etranger,  et  qii'elle  fait  pencher  la 
balance  des  echanges  en  sa  faveur.  On  estime  que  la  sole  produite 
annuellement  vaut  plus  de  100  millionsde  lire." — E.  de  Laveleye,  "  Etudes 
d'  fie.  Rur. :  La  Lombardie." 


126  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

her  rich  treasures  of  love,  fimile  de  Laveleye  states  the 
case  of  this  most  interesting  piece  of  wooing,  which  has  gone 
on  on  this  classic  soil  since  the  days  of  the  Etruscans,  in 
such  graphic  language  that  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote 
him  : 

"  But  this  happy  country  is  under  no  sort  of  obligations  to  the  favors 
of  nature,  as  it  holds  to  a  large  part  its  fertility  from  the  hands  of  man. 
It  required  the  labor  of  a  hundred  generations  to  raise  these  terraces 
which  hold  the  soil  on  the  mountain  sides,  to  lay  dry  these  swamps,  to 
dig  these  canals,  and  dispose  with  an  admirable  art  these  water  con- 
duits, which,  descending  from  high  valleys,  circumventing  hills,  crossing 
each  other  and  passing  the  one  over  the  other  at  different  levels,  carry  to 
distant  fields  a  marvellous  fecundity.  Without  the  embankments  which 
enclose  the  rivers  a  part  of  the  plains  would  be  a  vast  swamp  ;  without 
the  irrigation  works  another  part  would  be  burned  by  the  consuming  sua 
of  summer.  The  Lombard  is  not  even  allowed  to  enjoy  the  work  of  his 
ancestors  in  peace  ;  he  has,  without  relaxation,  to  defend  himself  against 
the  inundations  of  the  Po  and  its  tributaries  with  as  much  solicitude  as 
the  Dutch  employ  to  protect  themselves  against  the  attacks  of  the  ocean. 
.  .  .  The  Ligurians  built  the  first  cities  .  .  .  ;  the  Etruscans, 
an  industrial  and  painstaking  race,  built  the  first  canals  and  under- 
took the  first  irrigation  works  ;  the  Gauls  established  the  basis  of  com- 
mercial organization  ;  Rome  gave  the  language  and  the  laws  ;  the  Ger- 
mans founded  the  feudal  system,  of  which  the  last  remnants  are  passing 
away  in  our  days.  Even  Spain  has  left  a  trace  of  her  short-lived  domin- 
ion, a  sad  trace,  it  is  true,  the  example  of  idleness."  * 

*  "  Cependant  cette  heureuse  contree  est  loin  de  tout  devoir  aux  faveurs 
de  la* nature:  c'est  des  mains  de  I'homme  qu'elle  tient  en  grande  partie 
sa  fertility.  II  a  fallu  le  travail  de  cent  generations  pour  Clever  ces  ter- 
rasses  qui  soutiennent  la  terre  aux  flancs  des  montagnes,  pour  dessecher 
ces  marais,  pour  creuser  ces  canaux,  pour  disposer  avec  un  art  admirable 
ces  conduites  d'eau  qui,  descendant  des  hautes  vallees,  contournant 
les  coUines,  s'entrecroisant  et  passant  les  unes  au  dessus  des  autres  & 
differents  niveaux,  vont  porter  au  loin  dans  les  campagnes  une  feconditS 
merveilleuse.  Sans  les  endiguements  qui  contiennent  les  rivieres,  une 
partie  de  la  plaine  serait  un  vaste  raarecage ;  sans  les  irrigations  une  autre 
partie  serait  brdlee  par  le  soleil  devorant  de  I'et^.  II  n'est  pas  meme  per- 
mis  au  Lombard  de  jouir  en  paix  des  travaux  de  ses  ancetres  ;  il  doit  sans 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  127 

Leaving  out  the  last-mentioned  element,  the  mixture  of 
races  left  a  population  such  that  fifteen  years  after  Barba- 
rossa  had  razed  Milan  to  the  ground  and  passed  the  plow- 
over  its  ruins,  the  freedom-loving  burgbers  rebuilt  their  city 
and  completed  the  great  canal,  il  Naviglio  Grande,  as  far  as 
Milan,  an  entirely  agricultural  end.  Two  hundred  years 
before  this,  Milan  had  hardly  begun  its  rise  among  Ital- 
ian cities.  The  land  was  still  in  great  part  cultivated  by 
slaves.  The  country  was  largely  covered  by  forests,  and 
large  tracts  were  stagnant  waters.  It  was  brought  under 
cultivation  by  the  men  who,  fifteen  years  after  their  terrible 
visitation,  could  break  forever  the  power  of  the  feudal  hosts 
which  Frederic  brought  a  second  time  against  them.* 

The  excellent  system  of  cultivation  is  in  keeping  with  the 
great  works  mentioned.  Arthur  Young  gives  an  equally 
glowing  account,  visiting  Italy  three-quarters  of  a  century 

relache  se  defendre  centre  les  inondations  du  P6  et  de  ses  affluents  avec 
autant  de  sollicitude  que  le  HoUandais  en  met  h.  se  preserver  des  atteintes 
de  rOcean.  Tous  les  peuples  qui  tour  a  tour  ont  occupe  le  pays  y  ont 
laisse  des  traces  toujours  subsistantes  de  leur  passage  ou  de  leur  domina- 
tion.— Les  Ligures  ont  bati  les  premieres  villes  et  I'etymologie  retrouve 
encore  dans  certains  noms  modernes  les  racines  de  I'idiome  primitif.  Les 
Etrusques,  race  industrieuse  et  laborieuse,  ont  creuse  les  premieres  irriga- 
tions ;  les  Gaulois  ont  jete  les  bases  de  I'organisation  commerciale  ;  Rome 
a  donne  la  langue  et  les  lois,  entr'  autres  celle  du  colonat  ou  metayage  ; 
les  Germains  ont  fonde  la  feodalite  dont  les  demiers  restes  s'ecroulent 
de  nos  jours.  L'Espagne  meme  a  laisse  une  trace  de  sa  domination  pas- 
sagere,  trace  funeste  il  est  vrai,  I'exemple  de  I'oisivete." — ]&mile  de 
Laveleye,  "  ^fitudes  d'ificonomie  Rurale  :  La  Lombardie." 

*  At  the  peace  of  Constance  (1183)  the  free  republics  of  Lombardy  were 
given  equal  recognition  with  the  bishops  and  princes  of  the  empire.  A 
new  element  was  thereby  introduced  in  the  body  representative,  the 
burgher.  To  the  Lombards  belong  the  everlasting  glory  of  having  made 
the  breach  in  the  constitution  of  the  empire  by  which  society  and  the 
body  politic  became  transformed.  Legnano  (1176)  is  the  birthplace  of 
modem  society. 


128  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

before  M.  de  Laveleje.  Contrast  these  pictures  with  another 
account  of  the  state  of  agriculture  concerning  the  greater 
part  of  the  rest  of  Italy,  and  we  can  well  understand  the  low 
average  of  yield  in  our  table  as  contrasted  with  the  high 
yield  of  countries  where  the  same  causes  are  at  work  which 
made  Lombardy's  prosperitj''. 

"  In  the  matter  of  implements  the  Italian  agriculturist  is  far  behind. 
The  old  Roman  plow,  as  it  is  described  by  Virgil  and  Columella,  may  be 
still  seen  in  use  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  In  Sardinia,  the  plow 
which  figures  on  the  ancient  monuments  of  the  island,  might  have  been 
copied  from  that  at  work  in  the  fields.  Great  improvement,  however, 
has  taken  place  in  the  more  progressive  regions  ;  iron  has  taken  the 
place  of  wood,  and  the  coulter  and  share  have  increased  in  massive- 
ness.  But  even  in  the  Veneto  the  heavy  plough  drawn  by  as  many  as 
six  pair  of  oxen,  cuts  the  furrow  not  deeper  than  nine  inches.  As  we 
proceed  southward  the  fashion  becomes  -more  simple  and  antique.  Ma- 
nuring, even  of  a  very  ordinary  kind,  is  but  little  attended  to  in  a  great 
part  of  the  country." 

Though  Italy  is  so  distinctively  an  agricultural  country 
and  has  been  subject  so  long  to  regular  processes  of  cultiva- 
tion, a  large  proportion  of  its  arable  land  is  still  in  a  state 
of  utter  neglect.  Large  tracts  formerly  cultivated  have 
become  wastes.  Unhealthy  marshes  distribute  fever  miasms 
where  the  husbandman  would  create  a  paradise  were  he 
supported  by  the  spirit  which  animated  the  creators  of 
the  Lombardian  republics.  Their  wisdom  saw  clearly  the 
source  of  wealth  was  to  turn  to  the  soil  the  enterprise  and 
energies  of  the  people.  The  works  created  by  them  are 
lasting  monuments  of  a  liberty-loving  race.  The  builders 
have  long  passed  away,  yet,  through  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  war  and  turbulence,  all  succeeding  generations  have 
annually  reaped  wealthy  harvests  from  these  wise  invest- 
ments. 

Jacini,    the   Italian   economist,   says,   in   "La  proprietk 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  129 

fondaria  e  la  populazione  agricola  in  Lombardia "  (Milan, 
1854),  on  this  subject: 

"  It  is  the  general  belief  that  the  expense  of  introducing  the  system  of 
irrigation  could  not  be  less  than  a  milliard  of  francs  ;  and,  in  fact,  it 
would  be  above  that  sum.  This  assertion  will  not  appear  exaggerated  if 
one  reflects  on  the  number  of  canals  necessary  to  carry  the  waters  to  the 
land  under  cultivation,  and  on  the  work  which  made  it  ready  to  receive 
them.  To  this  end  one  had  to  change  entirely  the  surface  of  the  plain,  to 
construct,  if  I  may  express  myself  that  way,  the  soil  on  which  we  live  in 
the  same  way  in  which  the  Venetians  have  constructed  their  wonderful 
city.  Venice  displays  its  magnificent  edifices  and  its  sublime  master- 
pieces where  formerly  the  desolation  of  the  lagune  ruled.  With  us,  one 
admires  the  richest  vegetation  of  Europe  in  a  plain  which  nature  seems 
to  have  abandoned  to  the  marsh,  and  to  the  sands  and  the  pebble.  This  is 
what  has  been  done  in  the  ancient  times,  what  conserves  itself  and  grows 
each  day  in  this  dead  land  in  the  country  of  sweet  idleness. "  * 

*  What  lends  this  picture  a  peculiar  charm  and  background  is  that  the 
irrigation  works  which  challenge  the  admiration  of  Europe,  were  begun 
by  the  barbarians  who  overthrew  Rome  and  the  antique  world.  The 
great  Theodoric  employed  an  engineer  whom  he  had  come  from  Africa  to 
teach  the  Italians  the  art  of  controlling  the  waters  for  irrigation.  It  is 
recorded  that  the  African  was  publicly  rewarded  for  his  services  by  the 
king.  Pavia,  the  residence  of  Theodoric  as  well  as  of  the  Longobardian 
kings,  who  were  equally  earnest  in  this  meritorious  work,  seems  to  have 
the  honor  of  having  built  the  first  canals.  At  least,  the  first  part  of  the 
great  canal  from  the  Tessin  to  Abbiategrasso  was  completed  long  before 
the  Milanese  took  up  the  work  to  unite  the  Tessin  with  the  Adda  and 
their  city. 

"  If  one  takes  an  impartial  account  of  the  time,  of  the  circumstances,  of 
the  beauty  of  the  work,  the  canal  of  Milan,  which  unites  the  Tessin  and 
the  Adda,  can  pass  as  the  masterpiece  of  what  we  possess  of  the  kind. 
From  what  Sigonio  says,  it  appears  that  the  first  part,  between  the 
Tessin  and  Abbiategrasso,  exists  since  the  oldest  times,  commenced  and 
finished  by  the  Pavesans  for  irrigating  their  land.  It  was  in  1177  that 
the  Milanese  carried  it  along  from  Abbiate  to  Corsico  and  Milan." 

"Con  tutto  questo  pero,  si  imparzialmente  si  vorr^  avere  riguardo  al 

tempo,  al  le  circostanze,  alia  maestria  del  lavoro,  il  naviglio  di  Milano  che 

forma  la  communicazione  del  Tesino  e  dell'  Adda,  potrS,  passare,  per  il 

capo  d'opera  che  abbiamo  in  questo  genere.     Per  quanto  dice  il  Sigonio 

9 


{180  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

A  population  of  four  millions  subsists  and  has  to  spare  for 
export.  But  what  is  the  extent  of  this  land,  reclaimed,  so  to 
speak,  from  the  desert  and  the  marshes  ?  The  territory  of 
Lombardj,  according  to  Jacini,  had  of  its  2,141,700  hectares 
(about  6  million  acres)  only  1,132,795  under  regular  cultiva- 
tion. The  rest,  or  nearly  one-half,  is  uncultivable  mountain, 
mountain  pastures,  forests,  watercourses  and  lakes,  houses, 
and  some  large  stretches  of  bog  which  have  so  far  withstood 
cultivation,  "but  which  are  being  put  into  contribution  by 
planting  them  with  pines."  An  arable  soil  of  less  than  3 
millions  of  acres  is  made  to  support  more  than  4  millions. 
Three-quarters  of  an  acre  of  refractory  soil  suffices  to  sup- 
port a  human  being  and  to  create  the  material  upon  which 
the  wealth  of  the  country  is  built. 

The  Contrasts  and  Their  Causes. 

The  resources  of  the  new  kingdom  are  consumed  in  the 
attempt  to  be  a  great  military  power.  This  policy  taxes  the 
country  beyond  its  ability,  drives  the  tiller  from  the  soil 
and  sterilizes  the  land.  Were  the  hundreds  of  millions  spent 
on  armaments,  employed  in  works  of  irrigation,  of  drainage, 
and  improvements,  as  in  Lombardy,  Italy  would  as  intended 
by  nature,  be  the  richest  instead  of  being  the  poorest  of  all 
the  modern  countries  of  Europe. 

The  people  are  the  makers  of  their  own  destiny.  The 
institutions  make  the  prosperity  of  the  citizens.  Agricul- 
ture languishes,  and  the  returns  show  it,  wherever  oppression, 
whatever  the  agency,  rules  the  nations. 

nel  libbro  XIV.  del  regno  d'ltalia  all'  anno  1179,  pare  che  il  primo 
tronco  dello  stesso  naviglio  dal  Tesino  ad  Abbiategrasso  fosse  gia  dai 
tempi  pid  antichi,  incominciato  e  flnito  dai  Pavesi  per  irrigare  le  vicine 
loro  campagne.  Fii  nell'  anno  1177  che  i  Milanesi  condussero  lo  stesso 
cavo  da  Abbiate  a  Corsico  e  a  Milano."    (Verri,  Nuova  raccolta.) 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGE  WAGES.  Igl 

Arthur  Young,  one  of  the  keenest  observers  and  most  en- 
lightened critics,  in  speaking  of  France  and  Flanders  gives 
the  correct  explanation  of  this  phenomenon  a  hundred  years 
ago,  which  is  applicable  to  the  parallel  as  if  it  were  written 
to-day. 

He  notes  that  the  soil  from  Orleans  on  is  of  the  same 
nature  as  that  of  Flanders.  Yet  the  returns  are  so  far  infe- 
rior in  the  old  French  provinces  to  those  of  French  Flanders 
that  he  looks  for  an  explanation  of  this  remarkable  fact. 
He  says  ("  Travels  in  France  ") : 

"  It  has  to  be  noted  as  a  curious  subject  for  reflection  for  all  who  occupy 
themselves  with  the  nature  of  governments  that  Bouchain  (the  border  of 
French  Flanders)  is  situated  a  few  miles  from  the  Austrian  side  of  the  old 
border  of  the  kingdom.  The  line  of  division  drawn  between  the  good 
and  bad  cultivation  corresponds  then  pretty  nearly  with  the  old  boundary 
of  the  provinces  of  France  and  of  the  low  countries.  The  French  con- 
quests, as  everybody  knows,  have  carried  their  dominion  far  beyond  these 
old  divisions,  but  without  effacing  them.  It  is  remarkable  to  see  the  agri- 
cultural merit  form  a  frontier  corresponding  not  with  the  actual  politi- 
cal borders,  but  with.the  ancient,  and  di\iding  the  despotism  of  France  so 
hostile  to  agriculture,  from  the  free  government  of  the  Burgundian  prov- 
inces which  encouraged  it.  This  fact  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  nature 
of  the  soil,  because  there  is  hardly  a  finer  one  than  the  greatest  part  of  this 
vast  and  fertile  plain  extending  almost  uninterruptedly  from  Flanders  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Orleans." 

On  the  one  side  of  the  ancient  line,  excellent  cultivation 
of  the  same  soil  gives  a  remarkably  rich  product,  while  the 
other  side  shows  the  most  meagre  results.  French  Flanders, 
though  for  a  hundred  years  under  the  discouraging  regime 
which  had  sapped  the  energies  of  what,  under  more  favorable 
conditions,  is  the  most  thrifty  and  toilsome  population  of 
Europe,  preserved  all  the  advantages  resulting  from  the 
enjoyment  of  the  laws.  The  land  gave  rich  harvests  every 
year  under  the  lessons  derived  from  the  fathers,  while  the 
people  living  on  the  other  side  of  the  old  line  still  clung  to 


182  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

the  primitive  system  of  three-field  cultivation :  fallow  and 
two  crops.  The  comparatively  small  yield  of  the  France  of 
to-day  is  traceable  to  these  historic  causes.  For  good  and 
for  evil  the  past  has  its  hand  on  the  future: 

"  Laws  and  rights  become  transmitted 
Like  an  eternal  malady  ; 
From  place  to  place  are  dragged,  and  fitted 
From  fathers  down,  by  slow  degree. "  * 

To  understand  the  present  we  must  study  the  past.  The 
economic  development  of  to-day  cannot  possibly  be  under- 
stood or  explained  without  a  glance  at  the  institutions  which 
created  the  conditions  upon  which  it  stands.  The  agricul- 
tural development  is  expressed  in  the  yield  of  the  acre.  No 
other  branch  of  human  industry  can  be  used  to  such  good 
purpose  in  proving  the  principles  laid  down  as  those  upon 
which  the  prosperity  of  nations  is  built :  liberty  the  mother 
of  all  progress  ;  because  here  the  results  can  be  so  directly 
traced  to  cause.  What  brings  about  the  remarkable  phenome- 
non represented  in  the  tables  of  the  comparative  yield  in  agri- 
cultural product  may  involve  collateral  causes  calling  for 
further  elucidation.  But  after  all  is  said,  the  chief  factor 
remains,  that  no  exertion  is  equal  to  that  of  the  individual 
who  hews  out  his  own  road,  under  the  guarantee  of  free 
laws,  to  possession,  the  fruit  of  his  unhindered  toil,  and  that 
countries  with  the  freeest  institutions  show  the  highest  re- 
sults. In  all  states  where  this  is  the  case,  property  in  land 
is  nearly  always  in  the  hands  of  the  cultivator,  and  though  by 
no  means  endowed  with  all  the  knowledge  at  the  disposal  of 

*  Es  erben  sich  Gresetz  und  Rechte 
Wie  eine  ew'ge  Krankheit  fort ; 
Sie  schleppen  von  Geschlecht  sich  zum  Geschlechte, 
Und  riicken  sacht  von  Ort  zu  Ort. 

—Goethe,  "  Faust,"  Part  I. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  133 

his  industry,  nor  faultless  in  his  method  of  cultivation,  yet 
he  has  arrived  at  a  stage  as  favorable  as  presented  above  and 
not  reached  by  any  other  system  of  tenure.  Property  be- 
comes cut  up  into  small  holdings  wherever  free  institutions 
prevail,  because  no  one  finds  land  so  valuable  as  he  who  tills 
it  and  knows  that  the  results  of  his  thrift  and  toil  belong  to 
him  and  his  children  after  him,  that  neither  the  landlord 
nor  the  state  can  despoil  him.  The  highest  wages  obtainable 
are  those  resulting  from  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  by  the 
owner  himself.  They  are  limited  only  by  the  degree  of 
intelligence  he  employs  to  extract  fecundity  from  the  soil. 
What  these  variations  are  has  been  shown  in  a  general  way 
in  an  illustration  of  farming  as  conducted  by  different  nations, 
where  every  indication  points  to  the  irresistible  conclusions 
pointed  out. 

In  another  chapter  I  will  bring  proof  that  in  no  apprecia- 
bly near  future  time  the  question  of  pressure  of  population 
on  the  means  of  subsistence  need  cloud  the  apprehension  of 
the  social  reformer,  and  that  the  rate  of  wages  will  not  suffer 
a  diminution  from  that  source.  I  will  do  this  from  an  ex- 
amination nearer  home.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  present  evil 
is  not  a  scarcity  of  land  but  a  wasting  of  energy  consequent 
on  an  over-supply  of  land. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Security  from  Famine  guaranteed  by  Civilization. — Auxiliary  Advantages 
by  Improved  Means  of  Communication. — Truck  Farming. — Creations 
of  Railroad  and  Steamboat. — Results  of  High  Farming  in  America. — 
Farming  Results  contrasted  and  applied  to  Territorial  Dimensions  in 
America. — Conclusions  concerning  Food  Supply. 

The  Famine  Danger,  al"ways  threatening  under 
Barbarism  and  Oppression,  becomes  Extinct 
under  the  Hule  of  Freedom. 

The  rude,  unintelligent  farming  of  Russia  is  an  illus- 
tration of  the  condition  of  the  forward  countries  of  Europe 
in  remote  times.  The  Slav  of  to-day  occupies  the  position, 
intellectually  and  materially,  of  the  Teutonic  nations  of  six 
hundred  years  ago.  In  the  wake  of  barbarism  we  have 
plenty  and  starvation  in  frequent  alternation  among  scanty 
populations.  Civilization  secures  to  the  densest  populations 
an  equable  supply  of  food.  General  failure  of  crops  is  not 
known  in  countries  whose  early  establishment  of  free  insti- 
tutions turned  enterprise  and  intelligence  to  good  account, 
as  for  instance  Lombardy  and  Holland.  The  illustrations 
stand  for  all  other  countries  similarly  conditioned.  Their 
intelligent  cultivation  knows,  under  the  most  adverse 
circumstances  of  unpropitious  seasons,  how  to  exact  an 
equal  tribute  from  the  inimical  forces  of  nature.  While 
short  corn  crops  were  general  in  Europe  through  equally 
unfavorable  and  unseasonable  weather,  the  failure  was  com- 
plete at  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  line,  marking  the  lowest 
stage  of  civilization.  In  a  western  direction,  with  increas- 
ingly civilized  methods  of  agriculture,  the  decline  of  yield 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  135 

becomes  gradually  less  and  less,  and  almost  disappears  in 
England,  etc.* 

What  we  have  said  so  far  has  not  at  all  taken  into 
account  the  great  machinery  which  civilized  countries  pos- 
sess to-day  for  supplying  deficiencies  or  distributing  surplus. 
The  railroad  and  the  steamboat  have  made  one  country  of 
the  globe.  Every  hamlet  within  reach  of  the  lines  of  com- 
munication has  the  abundance  of  the  remotest  part  at  its  feet. 

Except  so  far  as  hampered  by  stupid  protection  laws, 
which  are  interposed  to  prevent  the  blessings  of  civilization 
from  reaching  the  working  classes  in  the  form  of  cheap  food 
and  life's  necessaries,  no  country  in  the  world  supplied  with 
roads  and  railroads  has  to  suffer  from  the  absence  of  a 
full  supply  at  uniformly  cheap  prices.  Distribution  and  its 
huge  machinery  is  but  a  part  of  production.  Whatever 
improvements  are  realized  in  the  former  by  the  inventive 
spirit  of  the  age  are  the  same  in  their  results  as  if  an  im- 
provement had  brought  about  a  price  reduction  in  the  more 
direct  elements  of  production.  Civilization  draws  from  the 
remotest  corner,  and  has  nature  under  its  dominion.  Bar- 
barism is  confined  to  the  immediate  soil,  and  is  the  abject 

*  England  had  the  most  inclement  weather  all  through  the  summer  of 
1888.  Up  to  the  end  of  August  there  was  barely  any  sunshine  to  break 
the  monotony  of  cold  and  rain.  Of  course,  the  prophecies  of  calamity 
were  universal.  The  journals  were  full  of  predictions  which,  had  they 
been  verified  by  events,  would  have  produced  universal  bankruptcy  among 
the  farmers.  The  outlook  fully  justified  the  lugubrious  forebodings,  the 
wheat  beaten  down  by  incessant  rains  and  everything  wearing  the  most 
forlorn  air.  But  after  all,  when  the  disastrous  season  was  fairly  booked, 
the  genera]  average  was  28.05  bushels  of  wheat  against  29.36,  the  average 
of  the  three  preceding  years,  barely  five  per  cent,  difference.  In  all  the 
other  crops  smaller  differences  still  appeared,  except  in  potatoes,  where 
1888  gave  5.18  tons  against  6.27  tous  the  average  of  1885-87. 

The  starvation  limit  is  extended,  food  is  supplied  in  abundance  to  the 
generation  that  knows  how  to  bridle  even  the  most  destructive  forces  of 
nature  and  make  them  obedient  conductors  of  man's  will. 


136  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

slave  of  nature  and  her  caprices.  Not  only  that  an  acre  can 
be  made  to  yield  an  illimitable  product,  up  to  $2,200,  as  is 
the  case  with  kitchen  gardens  near  Paris  (raaraichers),  but 
that  it  is  immaterial  now  what  the  distance  between  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  consumer.  What  the  railroad  and  the  steam- 
ship can  do  in  tbis  connection  is  familiar  to  everybody,  in  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  bringing  wheat  and  other  coarse  agricul- 
tural produce  to  Liverpool,  Transportation  over  10,000 
miles  of  sea  or  2,000  miles  of  land  is  as  nothing,  seeing  that 
witb  competition  so  distanced,  Englisb  wheat  does  not  com- 
mand a  higher  price  than  4s.  to  4s.  6d(Mark:  Lane  prices)  in 
a  year  of  general  failure  over  the  chief  agricultural  states 
of  Buropa  The  tremendous  crops  of  America  of  1891-92, 
and  a  generally  ricb  yield  in  India  and  Argentina,  have 
equalized  things,  so  that  in  England,  where  the  law  does  not 
interfere  to  help  the  producer  exact  a  tax  from  the  consumer, 
the  difference  in  corn  prices  is  but  between  32s.  9d  in  Jan- 
uary, 1891,  and  365.  in  January,  1892.  In  March  the  old 
price  of  32s.  was  reached  again.  Truly,  progress  has  done 
something  for  the  working  classes. 

Truck  Farming,   a  Creation  of  the  Railroad 
and  the  Steamboat. 

But  the  railroad  not  alone  guarantees  cheap  food  to  count- 
less millions,  it  creates  new  agricultural  pursuits,  otherwise 
impracticable.  No  other  branch  shows  so  well  what  agricul- 
ture under  the  best  available  methods  can  produce,  as  does 
truck  farming  as  conducted  in  the  United  States, 

Truck  farming  is  a  comparatively  new  industry.  Fifteen 
years  ago  it  could  hardly  be  said  to  exist.  It  is  the  creation 
of  our  modern  means  of  transportation.  Like  kitchen  gar- 
dening, it  caters  to  certain  localities,  centres  of  large  popu- 
lations.    But  while  the  former  is  conducted  in  the  immediate 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  137 

neighborhood  of  populous  cities  and  towns,  the  latter  is  car- 
ried on  in  remote  parts  of  the  country,  hundreds  and  even 
thousands  of  miles  away  from  the  consumer.  The  truck 
farmer  has  a  free  choice  of  territory  among  all  the  States  of 
the  Union.  He  has  only  to  keep  one  point  in  view  in  choos- 
ing his  ground,  that  the  railroad  or  water  connection  with 
his  market  is  good  and  works  with  reliable  accuracy.  Truck 
farming  has  grown  to  such  dimensions  within  a  little  more 
than  a  decade,  that  the  shipment  of  this  perishable  freight 
has  become  a  very  important  factor  in  the  earnings  and  cal- 
culations of  railroad  and  steamship  lines.  It  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  matter  of  course,  therefore,  that  transportation  lines 
will  study  the  convenience  of  their  patrons  and  not  interfere 
with  their  prosperity.  The  kitchen  gardener  is  usually  his 
own  distributor  ;  the  truck  farmer,  on  the  contrary,  ceases  to 
be  connected  with  his  product  as  soon  as  he  has  handed  it  over 
to  the  common  carrier  who  delivers  it  to  the  commission 
agent  at  perhaps  2,000  and  3,000  miles  distance.  Whole 
fleets  of  stearpers  carry  cargoes  of  truck  from  Norfolk, 
Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Jacksonville  to  Northern  ports, 
just  as  the  trans-continental  roads  carry  their  loads  from 
California  to  the  Eastern  termini. 

It  is  not  my  province  here  to  describe  at  any  length  any 
system  or  part  of  a  system,  but  simply  to  give  an  idea  of 
what  height  of  yield  an  acre  can  be  brought  to  if  conditions 
exist  which  make  the  further  advanced  system  the  more 
profitable  to  the  farmer.  And  here  we  have  by  the  mere 
advent  of  the  great  transportation  systems  and  their  more 
useful  employment  in  America  than  anywhere  else,  an 
industry  which  yields  annually  a  product  of  $100,000,000 
from  534,000  acres  of  land.* 

*  The  Census  year  gave  $95,000,000  gross.  Aiter  deducting  transporta- 
tion expenses  and  charges  of  commission  merchants,  the  farmers  netted 


188  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Of  course,  the  yield  varies  according  to  the  greater  or 
lesser  degree  of  energy  and  intelligence  applied  to  the  indi- 
vidual farm.  "  New  and  better  methods  of  culture  are  grad- 
ually introduced  with  the  growth  of  wealth  of  the  poorer 
producers."  As  it  is,  we  have  even  here  differences,  accord- 
ing to  the  census,  which  make  the  net  income  per  acre  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  as  the  higher  rate,  and  the 
Peninsula  of  Virginia  as  the  lower  rate  for 

Asparagus $ia3.60  and  $84.00 

Beets 150.00  "  80.00 

Celery 214.00  "  66.00 

Cabbages 133.00  "  95,00 

Watermelons 81.00  "  43.00 

Other  Melons 158.00  "  51.00 

Peas 67.00  "  26.00 

Irish  Potatoes 90.00  "  77.00 

Spinach 80.00  "  32.00 

Sweet  Potatoes 75.00  "  48.00 

Tomatoes 165.00  "  43.00 

Whatever  the  causes  of  the  differences,  the  poorest  returns 
are  so  far  ahead  of  the  proceeds  of  ordinary  farming,  that 
we  can  very  well  observe  what  gradations  exist  in  the  food 
yield  from  an  acre  of  ground  and  to  what  heights  it  can  be 
carried,  starting  from  the  lowest  returns  of  cultivation. 

The  Richer  Liands  give  the  Poorer  Crops.  Poor 
Results  and  High  Results  due  only  to  Poor 
or  Good  Farming. 

The  difference  in  net  yield  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  districts  is  by  no  means  due  to  the  greater  distance 

$76,500,000.  The  labor  cost  consumed  of  this  sum  $9,919,000,  seed 
$1,420,000,  fertilizers  $9,919,000,  and  other  charges  $3,794,000.  There 
was  left  a  net  profit  of  $48,106,000,  $90.00  for  each  acre  of  ground  so 
employed  (Census  for  1890). 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  139 

from  the  consuming  centres.  It  does  not  cost  more  to  ship 
a  barrel  of  potatoes  or  other  produce  to  New  York,  Boston, 
or  Philadelphia  by  steamship  from  Savannah  or  any  other 
of  the  South  Atlantic  ports  than  from  any  of  the  truck  farms 
located  within  a  dozen  miles  from  any  of  the  places  of  des- 
tination mentioned.  The  Southern  farmer  competes  with 
the  home  farmer  on  fairly  even  terms  so  far  as  transportation 
charges  go.  And  he  has  a  great  advantage :  he  has  the 
monopoly  of  sunshine,  while  the  Northern  farm  lies  buried 
in  snow  or  is  subjected  to  summery  winters  followed  by 
wintry  springs.  Being  a  month  or  two  ahead  of  the  home 
supply,  the  Southern  truck  farmer  realizes  much  better  prices 
than  his  competitor,  and  the  freight  rates  become  but  nomi- 
nal charges. 

The  charge  for  carrying  a  barrel  of  potatoes  or  other  veg- 
etables from  Savannah  to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  or  Bos- 
ton is  thirty  cents  (in  shipments  of  100  bbls.  to  one  con- 
signee, twenty-five  cents).  Early  potatoes  bring  to  the 
shipper  from  $4  to  $5  per  bbl.  according  to  the  state  of 
supply  in  the  receiving  markets.  At  the  time  of  this  writ- 
ing (May,  1892),  I  find  in  one  of  the  Savannah  papers  the 
statement  that  truck  farmers  send  their  potatoes  to  Cincin- 
nati, because  there  potatoes  command  $5.50,  while  a  sudden 
accumulation  has  reduced  the  price  at  New  York  to  $3.25 
per  barrel.  Watching  the  markets  is  not  the  least  of  the 
truck  farmer's  tasks.  Indeed,  few  industries  offer  a  more 
varied  field  for  the  employment  of  a  high  degree  of  intelli- 
gence and  handsomer  rewards  in  compensation.  Now  it  will 
be  seen  that  all  the  natural  advantages  are  on  the  side 
of  the  Southern  truck  farmer,  and  his  yield  ought  to  be 
the  reverse  of  the  actual,  both  as  to  gross  and  net  results. 

I  will  show  here  what  the  gross  and  net  yield  per  acre  is 
in  the  principal  articles,  taking  the  New  England  and  the 


140 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQE  WAGES. 


New  York  and  Pennsylvania  divisions  for  the  one  extreme 
and  the  Norfolk  and  South  Atlantic  divisions  for  the  other. 

INCOME  PER  ACRE  (AFTER  DEDUCTING  FREIGHT  CHARGES). 


New  England 

New  York  and  Pennsylvania.. 

Norfolk 

South  Atlantic 


216 

183 

93 

98 


pq 


200 

150 

88 

95 


266 

214 

68 


183 
133 
101 
113 


130 
67 

27 
57 


*2,000 


25 

175 


^ 


100 
81 
46 
32 


100 
90 
80 

101 


175 
80 
33 
70 


300 

165 

43 

94 


The  soil  of  New  England  is  not  known  to  be  possessed  of 
any  extraordinary  degree  of  natural  fertility.  The  wail  of 
distress  which  we  hear  from  the  mother  of  the  country  down 
to  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  supported  by  the  constant 
demonstration  of  the  increasing  ratio  of  abandoned  farms, 
accuses  nature  of  having  done  poorly  by  her  first  born,  the 
Eastern  tillers  of  the  soil  Neither  has  the  South  Atlantic 
farmer  any  reason  to  be  proud  of  his  soil.  Though  the  sun 
smirks  and  smiles  on  him,  yet  he  often  suffers  by  drought  to 
such  a  degree  that  the  climatic  advantages  would  seem  fairly 
counterbalanced.  Still,  with  all  these  admissions,  it  is  fair 
to  say  that  the  long  stretch  of  territory  from  Baltimore  to 
Mobile  (including  some  very  rich  soils),  covered  by  our  cen- 
sus report,  showing  all  over  the  same  differences  as  against 
the  North  in  the  yield,  enjoys  sufficient  advantages  to  jus- 

*  The  high  yield  of  cucumbers  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  in  New 
England  they  are  grown  under  glass,  which  adds  largely  to  the  labor 
expense.  But  how  trifling  in  comparison  to  the  enormous  net  profit  real- 
ized by  the  farmer. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


141 


tify  us  in  saying  that  nature's  favors  go  with  the  sunny 
South. 

That  man,  by  means  of  higher  intelligence  of  work,  here 
again  is  the  instrument  of  wresting  the  high  prize  from  na- 
ture's forbidding  attitude,  is  seen  from  the  following  state- 
ment of  labor  expense,  and  of  the  amount  of  fertilizers 
expended  on  the  respective  crops  : 

LABOR  EXPENSE  PER  ACRE  OP  THE  FOLLOWING  CROPS  : 


New  England 

New  York  and  Pennsylvania. . 

Norfolk 

South  Atlantic 


£ 

y> 

« 

^ 

. 

5 
g 

.a 
a 

< 

n 

ID 
O 

O 

Pi 
$ 

o 

1 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

34 

75 

58 

36 

29 

*137 

24 

16 

37 

36 

18 

44 

26 

26 

16 

14 

16 

14 

18 

22 

17 

20 

10 

15 

13 

12 

15 

21 

12 

17 

16 

10 

7 

7 

16 

13 

75 
30 
27 
22 


COST  OF  FERTILIZERS  IN  DOLLARS  PER  ACRE  OF  THE 
FOLLOWING  CROPS  IN  EACH  OF  THE  NAMED  GEO- 
GRAPHICAL DIVISIONS: 


a 

1 

>, 

1 

p. 

o 
•3 

xi 

" 

a 

s 

rf5 

S 

^ 

03 

a 

^ 

O 

< 

P3 

o 

o 

Ph 

U 

Pi 

03 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

1 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

53 

40 

93 

68 

40 

30 

21 

50 

65 

81 

40 

42 

31 

27 

28 

24 

24 

32 

21 

26 

47 

36 

10 

28 

13 

32 

25 

25 

16 

22 

11 

10 

7 

27 

15 

New  England    

New  York  and  Pennsylvania 

Norfolk 

South  Atlantic 


60 
45 
21 
21 


142 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 


Deducting  the  cost  of  labor  and  fertilizers  from  the  income 
per  acre  (freight  being  already  deducted),  the  truck  farmer 
receives  as 


NET  INCOME  IN  DOLLARS  PER  ACRE  OP  THE  FOLLOW- 
ING CROPS  IN  EACH  OP  THE  NAMED  GEOGRAPHICAL 
DIVISIONS: 


New  England 

New  York  and  Pennsylvania 

Norfolk 

South  Atlantic 


130 

116 

44 

47 


$ 
140 

128 

4 


1,833* 


168 


165 
90 


49 


The  labor  is  more  intelligent  in  the  Northern  sections  than 
in  the  Southern.  Its  higher  rate  of  wages  controverts  the 
time-worn  theories  that  low  wages  are  a  requisite  to  high 
profits. 

The  day  wages  on  truck  farms  are:  for  men,  in  New 
England,  $1.25  ;  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  $1.19 ;  in 
Norfolk,  75  cents,  and  in  the  South  Atlantic  division,  85 
cents.  For  boys  and  girls  they  are  65  cents  in  New  Eng- 
land, 60  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  and  from  85  cents 

*  See  note,  p.  140. 

f  Minus  income  of  $18  per  acre,  but  unexplained. 

X  Minus  income  of  $7  per  acre,  but  unexplained. 

§  Minus  income  of  $3  per  acre,  but  unexplained. 

I  High  prizes  realized  in  comparison,  on  account  of  early  growth. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


143 


down  to  25  cents  in  the  Soutb.  Here  again  a  demonstra- 
tion is  given  of  the  difference  between  piece-rate  wages  and 
time  wages,  wherever  piece  rates  find  employment,  as  in 
gathering  the  crops.  The  higher  day  rates  simply  express 
the  higher  working  capacity  and  greater  productivity  of  the 
worker.  While  the  day  rates  are  higher  in  the  North, 
the  piece-work  rate  is  less  than  in  the  South,  showing  in  the 
few  instances  stated  that  in  a  given  time  the  cheap  labor  of 
the  South  turns  out  considerably  less  work  than  the  better 
paid  labor  of  the  North.  Picking  string  beans,  for  instance, 
is  paid  per  bushel  at  the  rate  of  10  to  12  cents  in  the 
North  and  of  12  to  15  cents  in  the  South  ;  peas  at  15  cents 
North  and  20  cents  South.  Not  alone  are  higher  day  wages 
expressive  of  higher  intelligence  and  working  capacity  of 
the  laborer,  but  they  always  carry  with  them  a  higher 
working  of  the  farm.  The  Northern  farm  employs  more 
hands  and  more  farm  animals  to  the  acre,  more  manure, 
and,  all  told,  the  highest  degree  of  tillage  under  scientific 
methods. 

The  differences  in  intensity  of  cultivation  are  made  clear 
by  the  subjoined  exhibit  of  the  varying  ratios  of  hands  and 
farm  animals  to  the  acreage  of  truck  farms.  (I  count  two 
women  equal  to  one  man.) 


6  o 

No.  Hands 
employed. 

No.  of  Farm 

Horses  and 

Mules  per 

Acre. 

New  England 

6.838 

108.135 

45.375 

111.441 

7.810 
69.654 
20.152 
34.983 

3.468 

26.232 

5.790 

6.686 

1.14 
.64 
.44 
.31 

.50 

New  York  and  Pennsylvania . . 
Norfolk 

.24 

.125 

South  Atlantic 

.06 

144  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

As  truck  farming  does  not  employ  labor  equally  through- 
out the  year,  the  above  figures  could  not  very  well  be  taken 
as  illustrative  of  anything  more  than  that  the  different  sec- 
tions employ  labor,  in  greater  or  smaller  degree  to  the  acre, 
in  the  ratio  given.  Nearly  the  same  proportion  of  farm 
animals  being  employed,  and  these  not  being  supplied  accord- 
ing to  demand,  but  being  a  fixture  of  the  farm  the  year 
around,  it  is  evident  that  the  general  test  of  intensity  of  cul- 
tivation by  the  labor  employed  is  as  correct  as  the  other 
test  of  the  fertilizers  employed. 

A  Practical  Illustration  of  Results  of  Best 
Methods. 

The  best  proofs  of  the  high  results  of  farming  on  the 
most  approved  scientific  methods,  employing  labor  as  ex- 
tensively as  in  the  New  England  section,  and  fertilizing 
as  freely,  I  collected  on  a  recent  visit  to  the  South.  From 
Savannah  to  Jacksonville,  Florida,  and  from  there  to 
Suwanee  Springs,  about  a  hundred  miles  west,  and  thence 
north  and  east  again  to  Savannah,  ■  I  found  nothing  but 
sand  in  endless  abundance.  The  forest  stretches  in  every 
direction.  But  the  soil  is  so  poor  that  the  pine,  though 
getting  all  the  fecundity  which  is  in  the  soil,  disputed  only 
by  a  sickly  looking  growth  of  very  thin  grass,  seldom  grows 
to  be  a  respectable  tree.  The  land  around  Savannah  does 
not  look  more  inviting.  The  live  oak,  rooting  strong  and 
deep,  seems  to  be  the  only  growth  courageous  enough  to 
spread  out  We  have  seen  the  average  yield  of  the  South 
Atlantic  division.  The  division  includes  a  large  stretch  of 
country  from  above  Charleston  down  to  and  inclusive  of 
Florida.  If  the  Savannah  district  alone  were  investigated, 
it  would  perhaps  show  a  smaller  yield  than  given  in  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  I45 

above  abstract.  Mj  visit  to  the  truck  farms  around  Savan- 
nah was  in  Maj,  and  at  a  time  when  for  six  weeks  not  a 
drop  of  rain  had  fallen.  Field  after  field  of  early  vegeta- 
bles lay  parched  and  withering,  and  with  many  of  the  farm- 
ers the  results,  not  always  satisfactory  at  the  best  of  times, 
were  quite  discouraging.  Everything  seemed  changed  when 
I  came  to  the  fields  of  one  of  the  most  successful  farmers  in 
the  district.  Here  not  a  yellow  leaf  was  visible,  and  I  found 
the  farmer  directing  his  help  who  were  busily  engaged  in 
gathering  crops  and  packing  for  shipment.  Deep  plowing 
and  a  thorough  preparation  of  the  soil  allow  his  roots  to  go 
deep  enough  to  get  all  the  moisture  and  thus  to  escape 
the  drought  affecting  surrounding  fields *so  injuriously.  He 
keeps  the  soil  and  the  plants  in  good  condition  by  successive 
plowings.  He  uses  on  every  acre  of  his  farm  fully  thirty 
dollars'  worth  of  artificial  guano  and  twenty  dollars'  worth 
of  farm-yard  manure,  part  of  which  he  gets  from  his  own 
stock,  and  part  from  the  town,  brought  out  by  scavengers. 
He  employs  from  35  to  40  hands  permanently,  and 
from  200  to  300  at  gathering  time.  He  works  now  120 
acres.  When  he  obtained  the  farm,  only  60  acres  were  in 
fairly  good  condition.  The  rest  has  since  been  broken, 
drained,  and  cleared.  All  is  now  in  fine  condition,the  land 
well  built  up  by  rotating  crops  and  rich  fertilizing.  He  has 
three  crops  from  the  land,  if  he  can  gather  his  first  crop  so 
that  he  can  plant  corn  in  May.  June  planting  is  injured  by 
worms.  He  raises  on  one  acre  from  150  to  200  crates  of 
cabbages,  as  a  second  crop  40  bushels  of  com,  and  after  har- 
vesting the  corn  from  two  to  two  and  a  half  tons  of  hay. 
In  Irish  potatoes  he  gets  200  bushels  to  the  acre,  after  which 
follows  a  crop  of  hay.  He  could  raise  larger  crops  of  pota- 
toes, but  that  early  potatoes  are  frequently  frost  killed. 
This  happened  to  him  a  year  ago ;  then  he  plowed  them 
10 


146  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

over,  planted  cabbages,  and  came  out  with  a  good  profit  on 
the  cabbages  and  two  crops  of  hay  on  top.  Crowfoot  and 
crap  grass  spring  up  immediately  after  a  good  rain  where 
the  land  is  well  manured,  though  without  manuring  nothing 
would  grow.  The  money  yield  of  these  crops  depends  so 
much  on  the  conditions  of  the  market  that  the  prices  fluc- 
tuate very  greatly.  The  quantities  of  produce  raised  give 
therefore  a  better  impression  of  the  most  improved  methods 
of  farming  when  we  hold  them  against  the  results  of  farm- 
ing as  generally  practiced  in  Georgia,  where,  be  it  remem- 
bered, the  average  in  corn  is  not  more  than  twelve  bushels, 
and,  for  South-eastern  Georgia,  ten  bushels  per  acra 

The  salable  valiie  of  one  species  of  farming  is  $6.  of 
the  other  .$200.  After  providing  feed  for  stock — 35  head 
on  the  farm,  among  them  18  mules,  and  5  pleasure  horses, 
which  my  informant  keeps  in  Savannah  for  the  use  of  him- 
self and  family — he  sells  annually  from  200  to  250  tons  of 
hay,  netting  from  $2,500  to  $3,000.  His  permanent  help 
is  paid  at  the  rate  of  50  and  60  cents  for  males,  and  40 
to  50  cents  for  females.  He  houses  them  in  cottages  on  the 
farm  (for  which  they  pay  no  rent)  and  allows  them  what 
vegetables  they  require  for  their  own  use.  Yet  he  has 
realized  as  much  as  $25,000  from  his  sales  in  a  single  year 
under  favorable  conditions  of  the  market.  The  net  results 
are  not  less  satisfactory  and  may  well  be  classified  among 
the  best  in  the  country.^ 

*  Equally  important  data  can  be  introduced  from  an  examination  of 
other  agricultural  departments.  The  average  per  acre  planted  with  cot- 
ton is  about  160  pounds  for  Georgia.  This  represents  the  well  and  the 
poorly  farmed  acre,  the  fertilized  and  the  non-fertilized.  The  land  with 
constant  cropping  takes  five  to  six  acres  to  produce  one  bale.  The  same 
land  supplied  with  2  hundredweights  of  fertilizers  produces  a  bale  to  two 
acres.  Land  has  lately  been  given  10  hundredweights  of  fertilizers  by  a 
class  of  farmers  who  have  but  begim  to  bring  intelligence  to  the  cotton 


THE  EOONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


147 


Greater  concentration  of  effort,  a  higher  cultivation,  more 
intelligent  working  of  a  smaller  acreage  seem  to  be  the  only 

fields,  with  the  yield  of  a  bale  and  a  half  from  one  acre.     The  highest 
net  profit  resulted  from  the  highest  degree  of  cultivation. 

Even  under  the  present  low  price  of  cotton,  giving  but  6  cents  to  the 
farmer,  high  cultivation  leaves  a  fine  profit.  The  cost  of  raising  cotton 
under  the  two  last-mentioned  degrees  of  fertilizing  distributes  itself  as 
follows  : 

COST  PER  ACRE  AND  NET  PROFIT  RESULTING  FROM  RAISING  COTTON, 
FERTILIZING   WITH— 
A  :  2  hundredweights. 
Yield :  250  lbs.  linl  cotton,  @  C  cts. 


$15.00 

Cost  of  fertilizers $3.00 

2  to  3  hoeings 2.50 

Ginning 1.00—     6.50 


B  :  10  hundredweights. 

750  lbs.  cotton® 6  ct? $45.00 

Cost  of  fertilizers $16.00 

1  hoeing* 1.00 

Ginning 8.00—  20.00 


$8.50  $25.00 

This  assumes  the  farmer  to  do  his  own  work,  as  is  now  very  generally 
the  case. 

The  picking  expense  is  about  covered  by  the  price  received  for  the 
cotton-seed. 

But  even  when  hired  labor  is  employed,  the  results  are  highly  sat- 
isfactory under  the  improved  method.  Four  dollars  for  plowing  is  taken 
to  cover  the  cost  of  man  and  horse  per  acre. 

The  two  statements  of  cost  under  hired  labor  to  cultivate  twenty  acres 
in  cotton  would  be  as  follows  : 


Cotton  :  10  bales  @-$30 $300 

Seed,  300  bushels  %  15  cts,  to  18  cts.  . .     50 

$a50 

5  months' labor,  man,  ®  $10. .  ..$5) 

6  months'  support  @  $5 25 

Picking  @  50  cts.  per  100  pounds 

seed  cotton 76 

Ginning  per  bale,  $2 20 

Fertilizing  per  acre,  $3 60—  230 


30  bales  ®  $30 $900 

900  pounds  seed 150 

$1,050 

Labor $50 

Support 25 

Picking,  450  cwts.  @  50  cts 225 

Ginning 60 

Fertilizing 320—  680 


$120  $870 

Whatever  deductions  may  have  to  be  made  yet  from  these  net  results, 

commission  and  freight  ($2  to  $3.50  per  bale  covers  these  two  items) 

must  be  balanced  by  the  consideration  that  the  labor  of  the  owner  is  here 

replaced  by  hired  labor. 

*  One  hoeing,  I  am  told,  is  enough  with  richer  fertilizing,  where  2  to  8  are  required 
on  the  poorer  farmed  land. 


148  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

opening  the  Southern  farmer  has  left  for  improving  his  by 
no  means  satisfactory  condition.  The  planter  is  becoming 
more  and  more  a  part  of  history.  The  pressure  of  prices, 
the  consequence  of  improvements  and  discoveries,  is  becom- 
ing too  intense  to  allow  wastage  and  high  expenses.  Farm- 
ing as  described,  scientific  farming  alone  remains  profitable. 
The  large  truck  farm  worked  under  the  eye  and  management 
of  the  farmer  by  hired  help,  may  be  only  a  transition  to  the 
ten-acre  farm  worked  by  the  farmer  and  his  family  with  the 
same  satisfactory  results  of  a  surplus  at  the  end  of  the  year 
after  providing  a  comfortable  living  for  the  family — condi- 
tions which  the  forty  or  fifty  acres  of  a  one-horse  farm  of 
the  white  farmer,  and  the  twenty -five  acre  farm  of  the  colored 
man,  cannot  begin  to  secure.  Everything,  by  the  force  of 
competition,  is  in  a  moving  condition,  and,  as  Goethe  says  : 

*'  Und  wer  nicht  schiebt,  der  wird  geschoben." 
(Who  does  not  push,  he  will  be  pushed.) 

We  have  here  only  given  the  product  in  the  different 
countries,  per  acre,  under  cultivation  by  the  plow.  The  pos- 
sibilities under  spade  culture  have  not  been  considered  at 
all.  The  Lombard  saying  is :  "  If  the  plow  has  a  share  of 
iron,  the  spade  has  an  edge  of  gold."  * 

Two  pieces  of  land  of  equal  fertility  and  equal  manuring 
have  given  on  a  test  a  result  of  QQ  by  the  spade  and  28  by 
the  plow.f 

A  laborer  employed  by  the  landlord  of  the  Glengariff 
hotel  (in  the  southwest  of  Ireland),  had  a  piece  of  land  of  a 
quarter  of  an  acre  free  of  charge  from  his  employer,  which 
he  worked  with  the  spade  in  his  spare  time,  and  on  which 
he  raised,  as  he  told  me,  25  bags,  or  76  bushels,  of  potatoes. 
The  land  itself  was  no  better  than   the  average  in   that 

*  "  Si  I'aratro  ha  il  vomero  di  ferro,  la  vanga  ha  la  punta  d'oro," 
f  E.  de  Laveleye,  ificonomie  Rurale  :  La  Lombardie. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  149 

section,  mostly  bog  and  reclaimed  mountain  land.  Either 
requires  much  preparatory  work  till  it  is  brought  to  a  point 
where  the  spade  can  be  set  in. 

Those  living  in  large  cities  can  easily  inform  themselves 
on  the  results  of  the  highest  degree  of  cultivation  practiced 
by  the  market  gardener.  An  example  of  it  has  lately  been 
reported  in  the  Contemporary  Beview,  in  describing  the 
maraichers  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris.  The  yield  of  an  acre, 
it  will  be  seen  from  the  example,  can  be  carried,  indeed,  to 
an  extent  to  which  it  would  be  as  rash  to  set  a  limit  as  it 
would  be  to  set  a  limit  to  the  inventive  faculty  of  the  mind. 
I  will  quote  the  illustration  in  evidence.  Speaking  of  the 
gardener,  it  says : 

"His  garden  is  only  2^  acres  in  extent  ;  \  acre  is  given  up  to  aspar- 
agus. From  Sept.  1  to  April  30  he  sends  every  day  to  Paris  from  200  to 
1,000  bunches,  getting  for  them  on  an  average  through  the  eight  months 
6d.  a  bunch.  They  grow  in  frames  50  feet  long,  5  feet  wide,  floored  with 
slates  ;  under  these,  hot-air  pipes,  above  them  a  shallow  layer  of  earth. 
The  roots  are  crammed  in  as  thickly  as  possible,  covered  with  two  inches 
of  good  soil,  and  the  glasses  are  drawn  over  ;  in  eight  days  they  are 
ready  to  cut,  the  stocks  lasting  for  two  months.  He  has  also  1,000  bell- 
glasses,  costing  If.  each,  for  salads.  Every  year  the  whole  surface  of  the 
garden  to  the  depth  of  six  inches  is  taken  out,  sold  to  the  neighboring 
bourgeois  for  their  flower  gardens,  and  replaced  by  manure  from  Paris, 
which  we  saw  standing  in  large  ricks  ready  to  be  spread.  He  employs 
fifteen  men  and  pays  £35  per  acre  rent  on  a  fifteen  years'  lease,  with 
right  of  pre-emption.  We  sat  down  with  him  to  calculate  his  profits. 
Here  is  the  balance  sheet  we  made  out  : 


Wages £1,000 

Rent  and  taxes 100 

Manure 100 

Firing  and  repairs 200 

Interest  on  capital    150 

Horses  and  carts 100 

Sundries 50 

Balance  (profit) , 1,028 


Total £2,728 


Sale  of  asparagus £2,550 

Sales  from  rest  of  garden 178 


Total £2,728 


Net  profit  of  £1,028  on  a  little  over  two  acres  of  ground." 


150  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Here  fifteen  men  find  employment  on  2^  acres.  They  re- 
ceive wages  of  $320  a  year,  as  high  a  rate  as  is  paid  in 
many  of  the  trades  of  Paris,  requiring  considerable  skill. 
A  rent  of  $168  is  paid  an  acre,  and  still  this  victim  of 
diminishing  returns  and  of  the  rent  gatherer  pockets  £454, 
or  $2,200,  net  profit  from  each  acre  of  soil,  impoverished 
by  successive  generations  of  cultivators  since  the  days  of 
Julius  Caesar. 

Without  wishing  to  avail  myself  in  the  argument  of  these 
examples  of  highest  cultivation,  and  returning  to  general 
agriculture,  we  get  the  most  striking  proof  of  the  inadmissi- 
bility of  the  ruling  theories,  here  criticised,  when  we  apply 
the  varying  results  to  territorial  comparisons  of  the  United 
States.  The  crops  of  the  United  States  in  1887  covered 
an  area  of  200  million  acres.  Of  this  the  corn  crops  covered 
42  million;  potatoes,  2.4  million;  cotton,  18.6  million;  hay 
and  grass,  37.7  million  acres.  Considering  the  exports, 
this  acreage  would  have  been  sufficient  to  feed  and  clothe 
seventy  millions  of  people.  Allowing  ten  millions  of 
acres  for  small  crops,  not  here  enumerated,  tobacco,  etc., 
kitchen- gardening  and  truck  farming,  this  ratio  would 
take  three  acres  of  soil  for  every  head  of  population.  To 
raise  all  this  enormous  product  under  the  rough  methods 
still  prevailing,  and  under  a  therefore  comparatively  small 
yield  per  acre,  a  territory  of  the  size  of  the  states  of  Texas 
and  Louisiana  would  be  sufficient,  and  leave  all  the  rest  of 
the  states  and  territories  open  for  increasing  population  to 
settle  upon. 

Advancing  to  more  intensive  systems  of  cultivation,  as  in 
the  chief  agricultural  states  of  Europe,  but  only  selecting 
the  self-supporting  ones,  we  arrive  at  the  following  interest- 
ing comparisons,  as  we  progress  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  yield : 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


151 


Austria-Hungary,  on  the  same  method  of  computation, 
averages  If  acres  per  head  of  population,  allowing  for  excess 
of  exports.  On  this  basis  of  yield  the  territory  required  for 
the  United  States  would  be  125,000,000  acres,  and  be  cov- 
ered by  the  State  of  Texas,  with  one-fourth  of  the  territory 
to  spare.  The  same  ratio  represents  France.  Germany's 
cultivated  lands  cover  65,000,000  acres,  and  with  a  popu- 
lation of  50,000,000  requires  1|  acres  per  head  :  equal  to 
88,000,000  acres  on  the  American  basis  of  population,  cov- 
ered by  a  territory  half  the  size  of  Texas.  Of  the  cultivated 
area  of  Belgium  and  Holland,  one  acre  suffices,  and  for  the 
United  States  this  ratio  of  cultivation  would  only  require 
70,000,000  acres,  equal  in  size  to  the  State  of  Colorado.*  On 
the  basis  of  Lombardy,  not  more  than  53,000,000  acres 
would  be  necessary,  or  a  territory  of  the  size  of  Minnesota. 
On  the  ratio  of  yield  per  acre,  as  instanced  by  the  truck 
farmer  at  Savannah,  whose  farming  account  1  examined, 
half  an  acre  would  suffice  where  three  acres  are  employed 
now.  On  this  basis,  35,000,000  acres,  or  a  territory  of  the 
size  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  would  be  required. 

*  I  give  here  the  acreage  under  different  crops  supplying  food  for  man 
and  beast  in  the  European  countries  here  named.  Fallows  are  not  in- 
cluded. 


CoKN  Crops. 

Potatoes. 

Roots,  Grass, 

Meadows,  etc. 

Vineyards. 

Total. 

Population. 

Acres 
(Millions). 

Acres 
(Millions). 

Acres 
(Millions). 

Acres 
(Millions). 

(Millions.) 

Anstria-Hnngary. . . 

France 

Germany 

38 

37 

34 
2.4 
1.5 

3.7 

3.6 

7.3 

.5 

.4 

30 

22 

17 
1.8 
3.1 

70 
62 
60 
5 
5 

40 
.38 
50 

Belgium 

6 

Holland 

5 

152  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

The  same  measure  of  comparison  applied  to  European 
countries  would  be  equally  impressive.  From  the  applica- 
tion of  the  highest  degree  of  cultivation  to  the  countries 
subject  to  the  lower  degree,  an  extension  of  the  supply  of 
prodjicts  is  realizable  there,  which,  figuratively  speaking, 
would  be  equal  to  adding  new  continents  to  the  cultivable 
area  of  the  world. 

With  these  data  in  hand,  we  can  safely  relegate  the  ques- 
tion of  food  supply  to  remote  generations.  Even  these  may 
not  feel  more  grateful  to  us  for  our  worry  on  their  behalf 
than  we  have  occasion  to  feel  obliged  to  our  ancestors  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century  for  the  fears  they  entertained  on 
our  account.  The  question  of  pressure  of  population  on 
subsistence  is  taken  out  of  the  possibilities  of  ages  to  come. 
The  growth  of  intelligence,  the  application  of  science  to 
production  under  the  protection  of  liberty,  has  given  us  the 
surest  guarantee  that  the  positions  gained  are  safe  posses- 
sions of  the  race.  The  source  of  poverty  is  not  to  be  sought 
any  more  in  increasing  populations,  but  in  the  yet  imperfect 
organization  of  the  machinery  of  distribution  of  the  products 
of  toil  and  science.  More  and  more  we  begin  to  learn  to 
master  the  new  development.  As  the  masses  progress  in 
intelligence  they  will  become  able  to  absorb  and  to  enjoy 
the  great  prosperity  which  all  classes  of  workers,  by  the 
hand  and  the  brain,  have  been  instrumental  in  creating. 
The  chief  obstacle  in  the  way  to  this  end,  however,  is  in  the 
mistaken  policy  of  governments,  that  they  can  contribute  to 
the  well-being  of  the  masses  by  interference  and  by  taxa- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Condition  of  the  Workingraan  under  the  Old  and  the  New  Dispensa- 
tion.— Progress  measured  by  the  Budget  of  Consumables. — The  Ger- 
man Workingman  on  the  Basis  of  the  English  of  a  Hundred  Years 
ago. — The  Great  Purchasing  Power  of  England  the  Result  of  the 
Plus  Earnings  of  her  Working  Classes. 

The  condition  of  the  working  classes  a  hundred  years  ago 
and  down  to  the  time  when  the  new  development  began  to 
break  down  the  old  barriers,  compared  with  their  condition 
to-daj,  furnishes  the  strongest  evidence  in  support  of  the 
positions  here  taken.  So  plainly  do  the  facts  point  in  this 
direction,  that  it  appears  strange  that  so  little  use  has  been 
made  of  them  for  refuting  the  contrary  theories  from  which 
so  much  misdirected  agitation  has  sprung. 

The  comparison  will  show  that  the  comfort  and  well-being 
of  the  working  classes  of  to-day  are  due  entirely  to  the  eco- 
nomic progress  outlined  in  the  preceding  chapters,  and  that 
the  contrary  conditions  still  prevailing  are  entirely  due  to 
the  neglect  of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  that  progress. 

The  effect  of  high  wages  in  cheapening  production  has 
been  correctly  estimated  by  old  writers.  Not  to  mention 
earlier  apostles  of  this  sound  theory,  Arthur  Young  ("  Trav- 
els in  France  ")  declares  most  directly  in  favor  of  it,  and  was 
the  more  worthy  of  practical  consideration,  because  his 
declaration  is  the  result  of  actual  comparisons  after  long 
years  of  observation  by  travel  in  France,  Italy,  Spain,  Eng- 
land, and  Ireland. 

"  The  great  superiority  of  English  manufactures  in  general  over  those 
of  France,  in  connection  with  the  higher  cost  of  labor,  is  a  subject  of 


154  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

great  interest  and  of  the  highest  political  importance.  It  shows  that 
manufacturing  industries  are  not  benefited  by  a  nominally  low  price  of 
labor,  as  they  flourish  most  where,  on  the  contrary,  labor  is  nominally 
at  the  highest  price.  They  flourish  perhaps  on  account  of  this — that 
labor  nominally  the  highest  is  in  reality  that  which  costs  the  least.  The 
quality  of  the  work,  the  skill  with  which  it  is  performed,  go  for  a  good 
deal  in  the  balance  ;  these  depend  to  a  great  extent  on  the  ease  in  which 
the  workman  lives.  If  he  is  well  fed,  well  dressed,  if  his  constitution 
preserves  all  its  vigor  and  activity,  then  he  will  surely  do  his  work  far 
better  than  a  man  to  whom  poverty  leaves  but  a  meagre  pittance.' 
(Arthur  Young  on  "  Manufactures  in  France.") 

The  Standard  of  Living  under  the  Best  of  Old 
Conditions. 

But  this  superiority  of  English  wages  over  French  by  no 
means  entitles  them  to  be  called  satisfactory  in  the  light  of 
the  position  gained  by  the  English-speaking  nations  of  to- 
day. The  French  average  of  wages  is  stated  by  Young  as 
13d  for  men,  l^d.  for  women,  and  4Jd  for  spinner-girls. 
For  England  he  gives  the  average  as  20c?.  for  men,  9d  for 
women,  and  Q\d.  for  spinner-girls. 

In  Germany  the  rate  of  wages  was  much  lower  still  than 
in  France.  The  degree  of  comfort  and  working  power 
which  the  English  working  classes  could  buy  for  their 
higher  wages  was  balanced  to  an  extent  by  the  high  price  of 
wheat  then  beginning  to  make  itself  felt,  the  effect  of  the 
corn  laws  which  made  the  succeeding  fifty  years  the  darkest 
in  their  history. 

Nothing  perhaps  has  been  so  productive  of  good  to  the 
working  classes  of  England  and  contributed  so  much  to  the 
greatness  of  the  nation  as  the  remarkable  period  of  fifty 
years  of  low  corn  prices  from  1715  to  1765.  It  was  during 
this  time  that  the  working  classes  were  enabled  to  get  that 
superior  strength    and   working  power   on  which    Arthur 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  155 

Young  dwells  and  which  laid  the  groundwork  for  the  indus- 
trial revolution  which  has  since  overturned  the  world. 

The  average  price  of  wheat  for  that  period  was  about 
35s.  a  quarter  of  eight  bushels,  varying  from  285.  in  1732,  as 
the  lowest  price,  to  53s.  in  1754,  as  the  highest  price,  for  the 
fifty  years  of  the  period.  This  must  have  been  indeed  the 
golden  time  of  the  working  classes,  compared  to  the  later 
period  in  which  the  price  of  bread  was  doubled,  to  say  the 
least ;  while,  as  Frederic  Eden  says,  in  "  The  Condition  of 
the  Poor  "  (1797) : 

"To  counterbalance  this  the  rise  in  price  of  labor  was  very  little,  if 
anything,  more  than  2d.  in  the  shilling,  except  what  money  is  earned  in 
piece-work,  which  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  was  not  nearly  so  plentiful  as 
at  present." 

He  gives  the  wages  for  1737  and  1787: 

1737.  1787. 

For  out-door  labor  per  day lOd.  12d. 

"  thrashers 9d.  12d. 

"   laborers  near  great  towns 16d.  16d. 

' '   scribblers lid.  15d. 

"  shearmen 15d.  18d. 

"  weavers,  2d.  higher. 

"   women  spinners ,6d.  7d. 

For  the  period  of  1765  to  1796  the  average  price  of  wheat 
stood  at  about  50s.,  with  42s.  in  1776  and  1786  as  the  low- 
est, and  81s.  in  1795  as  the  highest,  price  of  the  period. 
The  25  years  from  1796  to  1820  were  terrible  years  indeed 
for  the  working  classes.  The  average  price  of  wheat  was 
near  a  hundred  shillings.  The  lowest  price  was  60s.  in 
1803,  the  highest  128s.  in  1801  ($4.00  a  bushel). 

That  matters  did  not  improve  up  to  the  time  of  the 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  is  presumed  to  be  a  fact  so  well 
established  that  we  need  not  dwell  upon  this  part  of  the 


156 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAQE8. 


subject.  The  time  when  the  worst  aggravation  had  not 
yet  been  reached,  when  war,  gold  premiums,  and  all  the 
evils  of  taxation  for  the  maintenance  of  government  and  of 
the  privileged  classes  had  not  yet  brought  things  to  their 
climax,  may,  therefore,  be  selected  as  a  fair  basis  for  com- 
parison. The  time  is,  furthermore,  well  suited  for  the  pur- 
pose, as  it  represents  the  "  good  old  time  "  when  the  factory 
system  had  hardly  begun  to  invade  and  press  upon  the 
house  industries.  The  whole  idyl  of  the  good  patriarchal 
period  was  still  in  full  bloom,  with  the  manor-house  at  one 
end  and  the  "  home "  *  at  the  other  end  of  the  social 
structure.  Work  was  still  distributed  and  done  entirely  as 
it  is  still  done  in  many  parts  of  Germany  f  and  other  Euro- 


*  The  name  given  to  the  poor-house  by  the  people  in  England. 

f  According  to  the  Industrial  Census  of  Germany  in  1882,  more  than 
one-half  of  all  engaged  in  manufactures,  where  small  groups  of  workers 
can  at  all  be  employed,  were  employed  in  groups  of  less  than  5  to  each 
establishment.     In 


A  Total  of 

Worlced  in 
groups  of  less 
than  5  persons. 

Worked  in 
groups  of  more 
than  5  persons. 

In  metals 

In  machinery,  Instruments,  etc 

459,713 
356,089 
71.777 
910.089 
221,688 
469.695 
743,881 

298,125 
127,565 
16,867 
440,.573 
107,293 
367,688 
468,652 

161.588 
228,524 
54,910 

In  textiles 

469,516 

In  paper  and  leather  industries 

114,395 
102,037 

In  nutriments,  food  and  drink 

275,229 

Total 

8,232,932 

1,826,763 

1,406,169 

Organizations  large  enough  for  profitable  employment  of  power  ma- 
chinery would  have  to  be  aggregates  of  many  more  than  5  persons. 
The  number  of  people  employed  in  domestic  industries,  those  working  in 
their  own  homes,  for  account  of  business-houses,  merchants,  exporters  or 
manufacturers,  is  very  large.  A  total  of  754,550  persons  are  so  engaged. 
The  kingdom  of  Saxony  alone  employs  138,000  persons,  and  Rhenish  Prus- 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  I57 

pean  countries,  England  herself  not  excepted.  Steam 
power  certainly  had  not  yet  begun  "  to  run  down  human 
labor"  and  "made  human  flesh  so  cheap,"  as  we  are  so 
often  told  in  speech  and  song.  Manufacturing  was  entirely 
based  on  home  industry.  Even  spinning  was  done  in  the 
rural  homes.  Weaving  was  a  house  industry  well  into  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  As  late  as  1830  the 
cotton  industry  of  Lancashire  employed  250,000  hand  looms 
against  60,000  to  80,000  power  looms,  according  to  Porter 
("Progress  of  the  Nation"),  and  Ellison  ("The  Cotton 
Trade  "),  who  is  authority  for  the  latter  number. 

The  work  of  Sir  Frederic  Eden  gives  us  a  full  insight 
into  these  halcyon  days,  which,  in  contrast  to  the  suc- 
ceeding period  and  the  bread-riot  times,  were  certainly  to 
be  remembered  with  longing.  Nearly  the  combined  earn- 
ings of  a  family  were  consumed  in  bread  alone.  Two  ex- 
amples, one  of  a  smaller  and  one  of  a  larger  family,  may 
serve  for  many,  reported  by  Eden,  to  give  the  earnings  and 
explain  how  they  were  expended. 


sia  and  Westphalia  102,000  in  domestic  industries  ;  230,000  are  engaged  in 
textiles,  mostly  in  weaving.  Hosiery  still  occupies  over  40,000  people  in 
house  industry.  The  principal  lines  in  textiles  occupy  in  home  indus- 
tries the  following  position  ;  I  set  side  by  side  the  total  of  all  engaged  in 
the  representative  branches : 


Percentage  op  all  Employed. 


Per  cent. 

Silk  weaving  and  velvet  (Rhenish  Prussia  49,022). .  70 

Woolen  weaving 22 

Linen            "         40 

Cotton          "        42 

Mixed  goodi"  weaving 30 

Knitgood8,hosiery(kingdora  of  Saxony  alone,30,513)  55 


Total 42 


Engaged  in 
House  Indus- 
tries. 


Total  in 
Industry. 


53.286 

76,264 

23,799 

108,007 

41,045 

103,808 

52,295 

125,591 

22,212 

73,750 

40,528 

73,828 

661,248 


158  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

The  first  family  consisted  of  husband,  wife  and  three 
children,  one  of  them  able  to  earn  a  little  money. 

8.  d. 

The  husband's  earnings  per  week  were 8  0 

The  wife  and  oldest  child  earned 4  6 

Parish  aid 1  6 

14    0  ($3.40) 

This  was  laid  out  for : 

s.  d. 

Bread,  13  loaves  (4  lbs.),  @  11  (Z.  or 11  0 

Butter,  3  lbs.  (bought  of  the  master  at  a  reduction), 

@6d 1  6 

Clothing  and  other  expenses 1  6 

14    0 

The  house  was  built  on  waste  land,  and,  "  the  landlord  not 
having  asked  rent  for  many  years,  may  now  be  considered 
freehold." 

Had  they  had  to  pay  rent,  the  contribution  from  the 
parish  would  have  had  to  be  larger  or  the  bread  cut  smaller. 
One  shilling  and  sixpence  a  week,  or  $20  a  year,  for  cloth- 
ing and  other  expenses  of  a  family  is  not  a  reducible  sum. 
The  wardrobe  could  not  be  more  fully  supplied  than  that  of 
many  of  our  German  house  weavers  of  to-day. 

As  the  second  case,  I  will  cite  that  of  a  weaver  in  Ken- 
dall, wife  and  seven  children.     They  earned  : 

s.  d. 

Man 9  0 

2  daughters 4  6 

3  daughters 2  6 

Oldest  boy 2  6 

One  girl  knitting 0  6 

Parish  allowance 1  0 

20    0 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  I59 

This  was  spent  as  follows  : 

s.  d. 

Provisions  14  0 

Other  expenses,  soap,  fuel,  rent,  clothing 5  6 

Of  the  first  part : 

8.  d. 

Bread  and  flour  absorbed 6  0 

Meat,  6  lbs.  @  4i  d 2  3 

Milk,  7  qts.  @  H  <? 0  10 

Butter,  2  lbs.  @  9  (Z 1  6 

Tea  and  sugar  :  tea,  3  ozs. ;  sugar,  1^  lbs 1  6 

Potatoes,  2  pecks 1  2 

Ale , 0  6 

14    0 

Bread  was  11  to  12d  a  quartern  loaf;  flour,  2s.  8d  to 
8s.  2c?.  a  stone  of  16  lbs. ;  potatoes,  Is.  9d  a  bushel ;  beef,  4d  ; 
pork,  3^  to  bd. ;  mutton,  5c?.  If  the  wife  baked  the  bread, 
instead  of  buying  it,  a  family  of  nine  good  bread  eaters 
would  not  have  had  more  than  5  pounds  of  flour  for  bread, 
and  perhaps  2  pounds  of  oatmeal  a  day,  out  of  the  shilling 
spent  under  that  heading. 

Meat  at  4^c?.  would  give  6  pounds  a  week.  Milk  at  l|c?. 
a  quart  allows  one  quart  per  day.  Tea  and  sugar,  at  the  high 
prices  which  these  articles  then  commanded,  gave  precious 
small  quantities  for  the  2jc?.  a  day  left  for  them.  Potatoes 
would  allow  something  over  two  pecks  a  week  at  Is.  9c?.  the 
bushel.  So  we  find  the  daily  consumption  of  nine  eaters  to 
have  been : 

In  bread  and  flour 7  pounds. 

"  meat f  pound. 

•*  milk 1  quart. 

"  potatoes 5  to  6  pounds. 

This  was  all  the  obtainable  supply  of  food  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  working  classes  in  the  good  old  times. 


160  THE  ECONOMY  OF  EIQH   WAGES. 

The  Measure  of  Progress  expressed  in  the 
Budget  of  Consumables. 

Let  us  now  see  how  a  workingman's  family  lays  out  its 
earnings  to-day,  and  what  is  the  food  supply  it  consumes. 

I  shall  give  the  earnings  and  budget  of  an  English  potter 
from  his  own  statement  to  me.  From  other  personal 
inquiry  I  know  that  it  is  a  fair  average  of  earnings  as  well 
as  of  living  expenses.  Many  individual  earnings  are  less 
than  given  in  this  case;  others  are  considerably  higher. 
But  in  manufacturing  districts  the  wife  is  usually  a  far 
greater  wage-earner  than  in  this  case;  in  the  potteries 
especially  so.* 

*  That  this  represents  very  fairly  an  average  of  earnings  is  proven  by 
copies  which  I  made  from  the  wage  lists  of  a  pottery  manufacturer  at 
Hanley  in  1889  : 

A  joUyer,  £5  2s.  8d.  He  pays  out  of  this  two  lads  at  8«.  and  6«.  6d., 
and  three  women  at  10s.,  16s.,  and  10«.  =  £1  168.,  and  has  left,  therefore, 
£2  12s.  2d.,  or  $12.81. 

A  second  one  earns  gross  £5  16s.  lOd.,  and  with  the  same  deductions 
for  his  help  has  £3  6s.  id.,  or  $16.11. 

A  third  earns  £5  14s.  gross,  and  net  £3  3«.  6d.,  or  $;15.38 

Women  jollyers  :  First  case,  £2  13s.,  out  of  which  go  £1  4s.  for  three 
helpers  at  8s  ,  which  leaves  her  net  £1  9s.,  or  $7.04. 

A  second  one,  £2  5s.  gross,  less  9s.  and  7s.  each  to  two  helpers,  leaves 
net  £1  9s.,  or  $7.04. 

A  man  plate  maker  earns  £3  16».,  less  12s.  for  helper,  net  £3  4s., 
or  $15.54. 

Still  another  earns  net  £3  3s.  Qd.,  or  $15.42.  He  has  between  £200 
and  £300  in  the  savings  bank. 

Another  (a  young  man  of  24),  £2  18s.,  with  16».  6d.  off,  nets  £2  1«. 
6d.,  or  $10.08. 

A  turner,  £2  14s.,  less  98.,  net  £2  5s.,  or  $10.93. 

A  mould  maker,  £2  5s.,  less  6s.,  net  £1  19s.,  or  $9.48. 

Another  mould  maker,  £2  7s.,  less  6s.,  net  £2  Is.,  or  $9.96. 

A  kiln  man,  £3,  less  14s.,  net  £2  6s.,  or  $11.16. 

A  woman  in  fancy  work  potting  made  30s.,  or  $7  30. 

To  take  these  earnings  and  say  they  represent  the  Staffordshire  potters' 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  161 

The  family  under  consideration  consists  of  husband,  wife, 
and  three  children. 

The  husband  earns 30  shillings. 

The  wife 6 

Total 36 

We  can  here  safely  set  a  man's  wages  of  30  shillings 
against  a  rate  of  12  shillings  in  corresponding  occupations  a 
hundred  years  ago,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  male  weavers,  of 
24  shillings  against  9  shillings  in  the  good  old  times.  But 
let  us  see  what  we  get  for  a  shilling  to-day  in  food  supplies 
as  against  the  period  we  have  dealt  with  above.  Bread  is 
about  4Jg?.  a  loaf  to-day.  This  is  11  lbs.  for  a  shilling, 
while  at  lid,  the  price  then,  the  workingman  could  only 
buy  4j\  lbs.  Of  flour,  a  shilling  bought  from  5  to  6  lbs. 
Now  (Is.  8d  the  stone)  it  buys  9f  lbs.  Meat  is  the  only 
article  which  has  become  dearer.  But  it  has  become  so, 
because  the  workingman  has  become  a  great  consumer  of 
flesh  food,  which  he  was  not  then — glad  enough,  then,  if 
there  was  always  enough  bread  and  potatoes. 

Of  beef  a  shilling  bought  about  2^  pounds  on  an  average. 
To-day  imported  frozen  beef  is  sold  at  Ad.  to  Qd.  a  pound, 

wages  would  be  as  unfair  as  the  practice  usually  adopted  by  American 
manufacturers  for  an  effect,  and  which  practice  has  been  criticised  in 
these  pages.  That  30s.  (|7  80)  is  below  rather  than  above  the  average, 
and  36s.  ($8.74)  more  expressive  of  the  individual  worker's  earnings  in 
the  potteries,  is  proven  from  a  statement  of  the  average  wages  of  fifteen 
pottery  works,  taken  from  their  books  at  the  time  of  a  general  strike  in 
1882-83.  They  are  as  follows  :  (1)  Flat  pressers,  $7. 75  ;  (2)  dish  makers, 
$9.67  ;  (3)  cup  makers,  $9.97  ;  (4)  saucer  makers,  $7.97  ;  (5)  hand-basin 
makers,  $9.71  ;  (6)  hollow  ware  pressers,  $8.18 ;  (7)  hollow  ware  jiggerers, 
$11.69  ;  (8)  printers,  $6.59  ;  (9)  oven  men,  $6.59  ;  (10)  sagger  makers, 
$8.50;  (11)  mould  makers,  $10.39;  (13)  turners,  $8.05;  (13)  handlers, 
$8.43. 

11 


162  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES. 

and  English  beef  8c?.  to  12c?.  for  the  choice  pieces.  A  shil- 
ling buys  2  to  8  pounds  of  the  former  and  1^  to  1  pound 
of  the  latter. 

The  same  is  true  of  mutton.  New  Zealand  mutton  of 
very  fine  quality  is  sold  at  Ad.  to  5c?.  a  pound.  Were  the 
English  workingman  not  so  fastidious,  he  could  have  his 
meat  as  cheap  as  his  ancestors,  what  meagre  portions  they 
could  buy.  But  he  insists  on  his  home-grown  beef  and 
mutton.  He  even  wants  the  best  cuts,  and  disdainfully 
leaves  the  poorer  pieces  to  be  taken  by  the  "  classes."  A 
story  is  current  in  the  potteries,  that  in  the  flush  days  of  the 
early  eighties  a  lady  asking  the  price  of  a  fine  cut  of  beef 
was  answered,  "  Oh,  you  won't  buy  this  nohow  !  None  but 
the  collier  ladies  buy  these  pieces." 

Butter  averages  Is.  4c?.  a  pound  now.  Hence  a  shil- 
ling buys  I  pound   against   1^   pounds   a   hundred   years 


Tea  was  45.  7d  to  85.  6c?.  at  the  company's  warehouses;  at 
retail  65.  to  10s.  Taking  the  lowest  price,  a  shilling  bought 
2f  ounces.  To-day,  at  2s.  6d.  or  60  cents  a  pound,  a  shilling 
buys  6f  ounces. 

Refined  sugar  was  7^c?. ;  now  it  is  2^d.  a  pound.  A 
shilling's  worth  was  then  IJ  pounds,  and  is  now  5 
pounds. 

Potatoes  are  now  8c?,  a  peck.  In  1797  they  were  6d.  to  8c?. 
a  peck  (Is.  9d.  to  2s.  a  bushel).  Hence  a  shilling  buys  1^ 
pecks  now,  against  If  to  2  pecks  then. 

We  see  from  this,  that  a  workingman  in  England  can  not 
alone  buy  to-day  more  food  products  all  around  for  Is.  than 
his  forefathers  could  a  hundred  years  ago,  but  that  he  has 
a  far  greater  number  of  shillings  at  his  disposal. 

As  this  is  a  very  instructive  object  lesson,  we  will  tabulate 
here: 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  163 

WHAT  A  SHILLING  BOUGHT  IN  1790,  AND  WHAT  A  SHIL- 
LING BUYS  TO-DAY,  IN  THE  CHIEF  FOOD  PRODUCTS 
CONSUMED  BY    WORKINGMEN  IN  ENGLAND. 

1790.  1890. 

Wheaten  bread,  pounds 4i^  11 

Wheat  flour,  pounds 5  to  6  ^% 

Beef,  pounds 2\  to  3  l^o  3 

Mutton,  pounds 2^  to  3  1^  to  2J^ 

Butter,  pounds Ij  f 

Tea,  ounces 2|  6i- 

Sugar,  pounds 1^  5 

Potatoes,  pecks 1§  to  2  H 

When  three-fourths  of  the  earnings  of  a  family  have  to 
be  devoted  to  food,  and  most  of  this  goes  to  the  purchase  of 
bread  and  flour,  we  can  well  understand  the  signiiScance 
of  these  figures. 

Taking  now  the  budget  of  the  working  potter  mentioned 
above,  comprising  a  family  of  2  adults  and  3  children,  we 
find  him  laying  out  his  36s.  as  follows : 

8.  d.      $ 

1.  Food  supplies 15  7  =  3.74 

2.  Other    expenses,    rent,    taxes,    fuel,    sundries, 

clothing 14  2  =  3.40 

3.  Balance 6  3  =  1.46 

Food  takes  only  43  in  a  hundred  of  earnings,  leaving  39 
per  cent,  for  other  commodities  and  expenses,  while  18 
per  cent,  go  to  savings.  The  savings  bank  has  taken  the 
place  of  the  poor-house.  But  what  is  more  to  the  point 
yet  in  illustration  of  our  case,  we  have  here  a  family  of  2 
adults  and  3  children  consuming  as  much  and,  taking  other 
products  than  bread,  more  than  a  family  of  nine  mostly 
grown  up  persons  in  the  old  days. 

We  have  here  the  following  items  as  the  weekly  food 
bill  of  the  potter : 


164  2'jy^  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

«.  d. 

1.  Bread,  6  loaves,  @  4i(? 2  3 

2.  Flour,  4  pounds 0  5 

3.  Meat,  7  pounds 3  11 

4.  Milk,  4  quarts 1  0 

5.  Butter,  1^  lbs , .  2  0 

6.  Lard,  i  lb.,  @Qd... 0  3 

7.  Tea,  lOi  ounces 1  8 

8.  Sugar,  5  pounds,  @  2^d 1  ^ 

9.  Potatoes,  1  peck 0  8 

10.  Ale  and  tobacco 1      2 

Besides  these  articles,  which  also  appear  in  the  food 
budget  of  the  workingmen  of  1797,  we  have : 

11.  For  spices,  other  vegetables,  etc 1      8 

Making  up  our  food  bill  of 15      7^ 

I  inquired  into  the  finances  of  another  family  which  con- 
sisted of  father,  mother,  and  six  grown-np  children,  all 
earning  money,  except  the  youngest  boy  of  the  age  of  fifteen. 

This  family  baked  its  own  bread,  and  consumed  a  sack  of 
flour  of  224  pounds  in  five  weeks.     Hence  per  week : 

».    d. 

1.  Flour.  45  lbs 4    5 

2.  Meat,  16  lbs.,  @  9d 12  0 

3.  Milk,  10  qts 2  6 

4.  Butter,  4Hbs 6  0 

5.  Tea,  1  lb 2  6 

6.  Sugar,  5  lbs 1  0^ 

7.  Potatoes  (about),  \  pks 0  7 

Does  not  smoke  or  drink. 

8.  Other  food  products 0  9 

Placing  side  by  side  the  two  groups,  we  behold  the  rela- 
tive positions  of  the  working  classes  of  the  two  periods. 
One  is  representative  of  the  old,  the  other  of  the  new  civil- 
ization  and  development.     We  cannot   better  show    the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EIGH  WAGES.  165 

advantages  resulting  from  the  progress  made  than  by  set- 
ting in  parallel  columns  the  quantities  of  food  consumed  by 

Family  A,  2  adnlts  and  Family  AA,  2  adults  and  DiflEerence  in 

3  children.     (1T90.)  3  children.    (1890.)  Consumables. 

Bread 12  loaves  6    loaves —    6   loaves 

Flour 4    lbs +    4    lbs. 

Meat 7    lbs +7   lbs. 

Milk 3qts 3    qts — 

Butter 3  lbs li  lbs -    H  lbs. 

Tea lOi  ozs +  lOi  ozs. 

Sugar 5    lbs +    5    lbs. 

Potatoes 1    peck — 

Extras 2s.   8d +  2s.  8d. 

But  here  we  may  be  told  that  the  outlay  of  the  family's 
earnings  of  a  hundred  years  ago  in  bread  alone  was  not 
judicious,  as  bread  was  so  high  and  meat  relatively  cheap. 
Yery  well,  let  us  reconstruct  the  table  of  outgoings  on  a 
basis  of  six  loaves  of  bread  and  assimilate  the  bill  of  fare  to 
the  more  diversified  plan  of  our  modern  example.  Accord- 
ing to  the  prices  of  commodities  stated  above : 

Plus  or  Minus 

Family  A.  Family  AA.                          of  AA. 

8.  d.  s.  d. 

Bread,  6  loaves,  @  lid 5    6  ^@^d 2    3  equal. 

Flour,  3  lbs.,  @  2i<Z 0    7  4@1^(Z 0    5  +  If  lbs. 

Meat,  4  lbs.,  @  4|(i 1    6  1  @  Id 4    1  +  3  lbs. 

Milk,  3  qts.,  @  l|d 0    4^  3  @  4(Z 1     0  equal. 

Butter,  1 1  lbs.,  @9<Z 1    1^  li@l«.  4d..3    0           equal. 

Tea,2|ozs 1     0  10$ 1     8  +  7?  ozs. 

Sugar,  2  lbs.,  @  7id 1    8  5  @  2^^ 1     0  +  3  lbs. 

Potatoes,  1  peck 0    6  1 0    8  equal. 

Sundries 10  0  2  10  +  28.0<?  . 


Omitting  sundries 11  10  and  13    1 

represent  the  money  value  of  the  respective  budgets. 

But  on  only  \s.  Sd.  more  outlay  the  workman  of  to-day 
can  live  so  much  better  than  a  workman  of  one  hundred 
years  ago,  as  the  plus  figures  above  indicate,  not  to  speak  of 
the  large  surplus  left  over  for  other  purposes. 


166  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Oq  the  basis  of  consumption  of  1790,  to-dav's  budget 
would  stand  as  follows : 

Family  A.  Family  AA. 

S.    d.  S.  d. 

Bread,  6  loaves,  @  l\d 5    G  6  @  4i(f 3  3 

Flour,  3  lbs.,  @  2i<i 0    7  3  @  lit? 0  3J 

Meat,  4  lbs,,  @  4id 1     6  4  @  7cZ 2  4 

Milk,  3  qts.,  @  lid .  ..0    4^  3  @  4(Z 1  0 

Butter,  li  lbs.,  @M 1     1^  li@ls.Ad..2  0 

Tea,  2f  ozs 1    0  2J  @  2d 0  5i 

Sugar,  2  lbs.,  @  7id 1     3  2@2id 0  5 

Potatoes,  1  peck 0    6  1 0  8 


11  10  9    5k 

A  minus  expense  of  2s.  4^d. 

At  the  same  rate  of  living,  the  workingman  of  to-day 
can  buy  for  95.  6^d.  what  it  took  a  hundred  years  ago  lis. 
lOd.  to  obtain.  If  he  were  to  live  on  bread  and  butter,  as  in 
the  first  illustration  taken  from  Eden's  amount,  8s.  6c?.  would 
buy  what  required  an  outlay  of  12s.  6c?.  then. 

The  parallel  is  more  complete  when  we  take  the  actual 
budget  preserved  by  the  Kendall  weaver's  account  and  of 
the  potter's  family  of  eight  members  for  comparison,  the 
letters  B  representing  the  former  period,  and  BB  the  latter : 

Family  B.  Family  BB.  Plus  or  minus 

of  BB. 

Bread  baked  at  borne. 

».  d.                                  8.  d. 

Flour,  2i  stones 6    3          3  stones 4  5  +1  stones. 

Meat,  6  lbs.,  @  4id 2    3        16  lbs.,  @  9d.  .12  0  +10  lbs. 

Milk,  7  qts.,  @  Ud 0  10        lOqts.,  @3d.  ..2  6  +3qts. 

Butter,  2  lbs.,  @  9d 1     6        4^  lbs 6  0  +2^  lbs. 

Tea,  2  oz.,  @4(<i 0    9        lib 2  6  +14oz. 

Sugar,  li  lbs.,  @7id 0    9        5  lbs 1  i  +33  lbs. 

Potatoes,  2  pks.,@7d....l    2        f  pks 0  7  -1^  pks. 

Ale 0    6        None. 

Other  food  prod- 
ucts   0  9  +  9d. 

14    0  29    9i 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  167 

This  fairly  characterizes  the  change  in  the  conditions  of 
the  working  classes,  the  progress  from  the  old  to  the  new. 
The  transition  from  a  bread  and  potato  diet  to  a  meat  diet 
is  unmistakable.  The  surplus  of  earnings  applicable  to 
the  purchase  of  commodities  other  than  food,  the  savings 
put  into  banks  and  loan  and  building  societies,  are  the 
direct  result  of  this  higher  and  better  living.  The  beef  eater 
overcomes  the  bread  eater  as  the  latter  overcomes  the 
potato  eater.  The  economic  position  of  nations  is  one  of 
food  and  of  standard  of  living.  Only  the  ratio  is  the 
reverse  of  the  general  assumption.  The  lower  the  rate  of 
living,  or  the  rate  of  wages,  the  higher  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion. Of  course,  the  economic  position  of  the  nations  cor- 
responds to  this. 

The  German  Workingman's  Basis  of  Living  no"w, 
on  that  of  the  English  a  Hundred  Years  Ago. 

The  rate  of  living  of  the  working  classes  explains  every- 
thing, the  standing  of  nations  in  industrial  competition 
as  well  as  all  other  phenomena  in  the  economic  world. 
Germany's  present  status  is  not  farther  advanced  than 
England's  before  the  free-trade  era.  The  living  of  the  work- 
ing classes  is  not  so  high  to-day  as  that  represented  by  case 
B  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  From  the  many  investigations 
undertaken  by  governments,  economic  societies  and  individ- 
uals, T  will  introduce  two  examples,  representative  of  the 
better  situated.  The  fact  that  a  large  proportion  live  beneath 
this  rate,  stated  in  these  pages,  in  speaking  of  the  condition  of 
the  poor  weaver  (Part  I.,  Chapter  IV.)  adds  weight  and  force. 

I  take  the  budget  of  a  German  workingman  from  Profes- 
sor V.  Schulze-Gaevernitz's  admirable  book  ("Der  Grossbe- 
trieb,  ein  wirthschaftlicher  und  sozialer  Fortschritt,  Leipzig," 
1892)  and  one  from  my  own  examination.     If  we  place  these 


168  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

exhibits  beside  the  showing  of  B  and  BB,  the  demonstration 
will  be  complete. 

The  family  consists  of  husband,  wife,  and  four  children. 
The  father  earns  15  marks  a  week,  and  the  two  oldest  chil- 
dren, employed  in  a  textile  factory,  contribute  7  marks. 
These  combined  earnings  of  22  marks  are  spent  mainly  for 
food — 17.85  marks.  Rent  takes  8.20,  and  barely  one  mark 
remains  to  pay  old  age  insurance  and  school  rate.  For 
clothing,  no  provision  is  made  at  all.  But  the  composition 
of  the  budget  for  food  speaks  volumes  : 

WEEKLY  FOOD  BILL  FOR  A  GERMAN  WORKINGMAN  AND  HIS 
FAMILY,  IN  ALL  SIX  PERSONS. 

Marks.  % 

Rye  bread,  II.  quality* 42  lbs.     5.60  1.35 

Rolls 2    "      2.00  .48 

Wheat  flour,  II.  quality 2    "        .40  .10 

Meat  (Sundays  only) \")       ^^  ^^ 

Lard i  "i" 

Vegetables,  peas,  beans,  rice,  etc 3.40  .80 

Potatoes 30  qts.     1.80  .44 

Com  coffee .20  .05 

Butter 2i  lbs.  3.40  .80 

"  Half  "  milk  (skimmed  milk) 6  qts.       .60  .15 

17.85    4.28 

The  price  of  bread  and  flour  is  stated  here  somewhat  higher 
than  I  had  it  quoted  to  me  by  workingmen  in  1886,  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  among  the  Crefeld  silk  weavers.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  duty  on  com  was  raised  since 
that  time.  The  budget  of  supplies,  taken  down  by  myself, 
however,  does  not  vary  materially  from  that  given  by  Dr. 
von  Schulze-Gaevemitz.  The  family  was  composed  of  father, 
mother,  grown-up  son,  and  widowed  daughter  with    three 

*  Rye  bread  is  here  quoted  at  the  rate  of  3^  cents  a  pound  against 
wheaten  bread  in  England  at  (9  cents  the  4  lb.  loaf)  2i  cents  ;  wheat  flour 
at  5  cents  against  2^  cents  in  England. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  169 

children.  Thej  owned  the  house  and  about  a  quarter  of  an 
acre  of  land.  In  the  previous  year  (1885)  father  and  mother 
had  earned  624  marks  together,  or  12  marks  per  week.  At 
the  time  they  did  not  work,  as  trade  was  dull.  The  daughter' 
earned  10  marks  and  the  son  from  12  to  18  marks,  accord- 
ing to  the  work.  It  will  be  readily  understood  from  the 
fact  of  the  house  being  owned  by  the  father,  and  through  the 
aggregation  of  earnings  of  the  family,  that  this  is  one  of  the 
most  favorable  cases,  from  my  own  observation  as  well  as 
reported  on  by  others. 

BUDGET    OF    A    FAMILY  OF    FOUR    ADULTS    AND    THREE 
CHILDREN.     (FROM  MY  OWN  INVESTIGATIONS.) 

1.  Food, 

Marks.        Marks. 

Rye  bread,  20  lbs.,  @  10  pfg 2. 

White   bread 2. 

Rolls .50 

Home-baked  white  bread  : 

Flour,  10  lbs.,  @  13  pfg 1.30 

Yeast 30 

Milk,  1^  liter,  @  15  pfg 22^ 

Baker's  wage 50 

2.3^i 

Flour,  4  lbs.,  @  13  pfg .52 

Butter,  2  lbs.,  @  1  mark 2. 

Milk,  6  liters  @  15  pfg .90 

Beef  (Sundays),  li  lbs.,  @  60  pfg .90 

Salt  pork,  2  lbs.,  @  65  pfg .97i 

Sausage,  1  lb. ,  @ .80 

Potatoes,  1,000  lbs 24, 

"         about  an  equal  amount  raised  on 

own  land 24. 

Cabbage  for  sourkrout,  400  lbs. ,  @  1  mark 

per  100  lbs 4. 

Cabbage,  cutting 10. 

Coffee,  40  lbs,,  @  1.25  marks 50. 

For  52  weeks 112.  3.15 

Carried  forward 15.07 


170  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES, 

Marks.        Marks. 

Brought  forward 15.07 

Sugar,  ilb.,@40pfg .20 

Olive  oil  and  spices .44 

Soap,  1  lb .20 

Beer 1.20 

17.11 
2.  Clothing. 

Father 40. 

Son 40. 

Three  children 54. 

(Children's  shoes  are  3.50  and  boy's  shoes 
5  marks  a  pair.) 
Mother  and  daughter 78. 

212.  4.08 

3.  Fuel  -and  Light. 

Coal,  4  tons,  @  7.50  marks 30. 

Coal  oil 13. 

42.  .80 

4.  Rent. 

Owns  the  house,  mortgaged  for. . .  .2,400. 

Interest 120. 

Repairs 20. 

140.  2.70 

Total  expense 24.69* 

No  allowance  is  made  here  for  taxes  and  school  money, 
or  for  any  other  unavoidable  expense.  Nor  must  it  be  for- 
gotten that  no  full  allowance  for  rent  is  made,  which  would 
be  considerably  higher  were  the  house  not  their  own.  The 
two  statements,  together  with  the  other  illustrations,  clearly 
explain  the  position  of  labor  and  of  the  laborer  in  Germany. 

We  see  that  a  German  workingman  of  to-day  cannot  live 
as  well  as  an  English  workingman  lived  a  hundred  years 

*  The  mark  at  24  cents  round,  and  100  pfennige  the  mark,  will  help 
computing  German  into  American  money. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  171 

ago,  poorlj  as  the  latter  was  situated  as  compared  to  con- 
ditions of  to-day. 

Meat  disappears  almost  entirely.  So  do  tea  and  sugar. 
Everything  is  reduced  to  a  point  below  which  it  is  hardly 
possible  to  produce  the  strength  necessary  for  earning  even 
the  scant  wages  that  keep  the  family  alive.  A  surplus  is 
unimaginable.  The  purchasing  power  for  other  commodi- 
ties is  destroyed,*  as  every  possible  increase  in  earnings 

*  A  few  cases  taken  from  the  better  situated  classes  of  workingmen 
will  evidence  this  fully.  Other  proof  exists  in  abundance.  "  A  family 
of  a  type-setter  at  Leipsic — consequently  belonging  to  the  highest  class  of 
workingmen — with  only  two  children  has  only  174.40  marks($37)  to  spare 
for  shoes  and  clothing."  "  To  save  shoes  the  children  have  to  go  bare- 
foot in  the  warmer  season."  "  The  house-furnishing  of  a  German  work- 
ingman's  family  is  hardly  ever  bought  new,  but,  as  in  numerous  cases, 
the  clothing  also  from  second-hand  dealers,  or  obtained  through  charity." 
("  The  factory  system,  an  economic  and  social  progress."  Dr.  Gerhardt 
von  Schuize-Gavernitz,  Leipsic,  1892.) 

"  Eine  Leipziger  Buchdruckerfamilie — also  der  hSchststehenden  Klasse 
der  Arbeiter  angehorig — mit  nur  zwei  Kindem  hat  f  iir  Bekleidung  und 
Schuhwerk  jahrlich  nur  174.40  M.  (ibrig.  "  Um  Schuhwerk  zu  sparen, 
laufen  die  Kinder  in  der  warmeren  Jahreszeit  barfuss."  Der  Hausratder 
deutschen  Arbeiterfamilien  wird  fast  nie  neu  gekauft,  sondem,  wie  in 
zahlreichen  Fallen  auch  die  Kleidung,  vom  TrSdler,  oder  durch  Wohl- 
thiitigkeit  erworben." 

"  A  workingman's  family  with  four  children  and  an  income  of  1145.19 
marks  ($283)  spent  for  clothing,  linen,  furniture,  and  repairs  only  100.78 
marks  ($24).  The  head  of  the  family  buys  once  in  a  while  a  pair  of 
working  trousers,  or  some  other  indispensable  article,  but  has  not  for 
fifteen  years  bought  a  new  suit  of  clothes.  As  a  rule  with  workingmen, 
the  furniture  is  bought  second-hand  when  the  family  starts  housekeep- 
ing. A  sofa  or  lounge  is  absent  in  most  cases.  A  separate  sitting- 
room  is  found  nowhere,  the  same  room  being  used  to  sleep  and  to  live  in. 
Frequently  the  same  room  serves  the  whole  family  as  living  and  sleeping- 
room,  and  in  many  cases  is  shared  with  boarders." 

"  Schriften  des  freien  deutschen  Hochstifts,Frankfurt-a.-M.,  1890.  Eine 
Arbeiterfamilie  mit  vier  Kindem  iind  1145.19  M.  Einkommen  gab  fiir 
Kleidung,  Wasche,  Haushaltungs  gegenstande  und  deren  Reparatur  nur 


172  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

would  be  consumed  in  meat  food,  so  necessary  for  the  nerve 
of  the  worker. 

The  contrary  position  in  England,  allowing  for  so  large  a 
surplus  over  food  expenses,  explains  the  great  absorbing 
character  of  the  English  market,  the  dumping  ground  of  the 
surplus  products  of  the  whole  world. 

The  high  importance,  the  economic  and  sociological  value 
of  a  high  rate  of  wages,  the  preponderating  power  it  gives 
to  nations  blessed  with  it,  has  been  so  fully  demonstrated 
by  the  facts  here  adduced,  that  further  argument  seems 
superfluous. 

Nor  need  I  dwell  here  upon  the  conditions  in  America, 
where  the  forces  that  have  been  so  powerful  in  creating  the 
advanced  position  of  England  have  had  fuller  sweep  yet. 
The  results  have  been  fully  dwelt  upon.  Their  effect  will 
be  made  clear  in  the  second  part  of  this  volume,  when  the 
different  industries  will  be  separately  reviewed,  and  when  it 
will  be  shown  that  the  hindrance  to  reaching  the  highest 
development  is  the  interposition  of  laws,  mistakenly  called 
protective,  but  in  reality  preventive. 

100.78  M.  aus.  Vom  Familienvorstand  heisst  es  :  "  Er  kauft  wohl 
einmal  eine  Arbeitshose  oder  ein  derart  unentbehrliches  Kleidungsstiick, 
hat  aber  seit  15  Jahren  keinen  neuen  vollstandigen  Anzug  mehr  sich 
angeschafft."  Die  Mobel  der  Arbeiter  sind  meist  schon  bei  Begriindung 
des  Haushaltes  gebraucht  gewesen.  Selbst  das  Sofa  fehlt  in  den  meisten 
Fallen.  Einen  besondern  zum  Wohnzimmer  benutzten  Raum  giebt  es 
nirgends,  vielmehr  wird  in  demselben  Raume  geschlafen  und  gewohnt. 
Haufig  dient  ein  Zimmer  der  gesamteu  Familie  zum  Wohn-  und  Schlaf- 
raum,  in  vielen  Fallen  wird  derselbe  mit  Aftermietem  geteilt." 


I^^RT    II. 

THE   EFFECT   OF   HIGH   WAGES, 


COMPARATIYE    METHODS    AND    COST    OF 

PRODUCTION    IN    AMERICA    AND 

EUROPEAN    COUNTRIES. 


In  the  first  part  of  this  treatise  it  has  been  shown  that  a  high  rate  of 
wages  is  the  primary,  the  moving  cause  to  all  industrial  progress,  and 
that  a  low  cost  of  production  must  necessarily  follow  where  favorable 
conditions  have  created  this  basis.  It  has  been  shown  that  these  con- 
ditions are  created  by  freedom,  and  that  restrictions,  like  tariffs,  even  be 
they  called  protective,  cannot  possibly  be  otherwise  than  obstructive. 

In  the  second  part  the  chief  industries  of  the  world,  competing  in 
trade,  will  be  discussed  and  reviewed  in  the  light  gained  from  the  general 
inquiry  into  the  causes  of  high  wages,  contained  in  the  first  part.  It 
will  be  shown  by  an  analysis  of  competing  industries,  methods,  and  cost 
of  production,  that  all  the  available  facts  prove  the  correctness  of  the 
principles  treated  in  the  previous  pages. 

The  analytical  review  will  fully  corroborate  the  main  contention,  that 
the  industries  of  America  want  the  reverse  of  what  the  McKinley  Act  has 
given  them — room  for  freer  and  higher  development.  The  latter  can 
only  be  given  by  what  has  been  suggested,  a  higher  training,  technical, 
scientific,  and  artistic.  These  are  the  requisites  which  would  make 
America  industrially  independent.  A  few  millions  annually  spent  on 
these  necessary  elements  in  the  productive  machinery  would  conduce 
more  to  this  end  than  ever  so  many  efforts  in  the  direction  which  Mr. 
McKinley  has  induced  the  Republican  party  to  follow. 

That  the  act  he  has  identified  with  his  name  would  prove  a  disastrous 
failure  ought  to  have  been  self-evident  at  the  outset,  from  a  consideration 
of  the  true  principles  of  the  economy  of  production.  Blindness  and 
mere  party  greed  alone  could  have  prevented  a  correct  estimation  of  the 
logical  results  which  are  now  open  to  everybody's  view. 


CHAPTER    I 

Unreliability  of  Statements  of  Protected  Industries. — Exaggerated  to 
obtain  High  Rates  of  Protection.  —  The  Pottery  Industry  in 
Evidence. — English  and  American  Positions  contrasted. — Sanitary 
and  other  Ware. — Making  High  Rates  of  Profit  though  selling 
Goods  considerably  under  English  Prices, — Brown  Stoneware. 

Protection  has  its  strongest  ally  in  the  general  ignorance 
of  the  relation  between  the  method  and  cost  of  manufacture 
in  countries  competing  for  our  market  and  our  own.  Not 
able  to  cover  the  field  of  inquiry  for  themselves,  the  law- 
makers had  no  other  sources  of  information  than  the  manu- 
facturers themselves.  Where  the  latter  did  not  wilfully 
mislead,  it  is  certain  that  they  showed  only  such  facts  as 
would  most  surely  prove  the  need  of  continuing  or  imposing 
excessive  duties.  Facts  from  abroad  were  entirely  wanting. 
The  consular  reports  had  no  information  on  the  subject  worth 
considering.  The  consuls  gave  all  they  could  give — the 
daily  rate  of  wages,  the  mode  of  living,  the  hours  of  labor, 
the  commercial  statistics  of  industry,  etc.  But  upon  such 
data  no  intelligent  comparison  can  be  based.  No  points  on 
industrial  competition  can  be  determined  therefrom.  With 
the  object  of  obtaining  the  information  required  for  estab- 
lishing a  basis  for  comparative  manufacturing  statistics,  I 
commenced  my  investigations  with  the  pottery  industry,  it 
being  the  chief  industry  of  the  district  to  which  I  was 
appointed.  The  pottery  industry  has  always  attracted 
general  interest.  It  is,  strictly  speaking,  an  art  industr}^, 
and  as  such  offers  many  useful  hints  and  points  for  com- 


176  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

parison.  The  technical  processes  are  very  important  sub- 
jects of  study.  In  many  directions,  industrial  improvement 
would  follow  a  more  careful  consideration  of  them  than  they 
seem  to  have  found  among  American  manufacturers  in  the 
scramble  for  high  protective  duties.  Under  the  cheapening 
of  prices  following  the  adoption  of  improved  methods  of 
manufacture,  and  under  a  rising  standard  of  life  among  the 
masses,  white  ware  in  pottery  finds  a  very  much  wider 
market  than  in  former  times.  White  and  decorated  pottery 
can  now  be  brought  into  every  cottage,  giving  an  inviting 
appearance  to  every  dinner  table  by  replacing  the  pewter 
and  common  earthenware  of  former  days.  Increasing  com- 
mercial importance  is  thereby  secured  to  this  article  of 
manufacture,  in  addition  to  the  importance  attaching  to  it 
from  the  educational  point  of  view. 

The  Industry  in  America  and  England. 

An  industry  like  this  naturally  invites  the  attention  of 
everybody  who  is  interested  in  the  general  question  of  the 
aesthetic  and  industrial  development  of  a  country.  What 
lends  to  pottery  in  England  especial  interest  is  that  it  has 
there,  unaided  by  government  support,  developed  into  one 
of  the  leading  industries,  and  holds  a  position  which  enables 
it  to  send  now  to  the  United  States  twice  as  much  as  Ger- 
many, France,  Austria,  and  all  other  exporting  countries 
combined. 

To  get  to  the  cost  of  production,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
examine  into  the  cost  of  materials,  the  cost  of  labor,  and 
piece-work  prices.  In  a  report  on  the  pottery  industry  of 
North  Staffordshire  I  made  a  comparison  of  the  English 
and  American  potteries,  the  weekly  earnings  in  both,  as 
well  as  the  piece-work  rates,  transportation  charges,  methods 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  VJ'J 

of  working,  improvements  adopted  in  the  methods ;  and  I 
added  a  description  of  the  system  of  art  education  in 
England,  the  cost  and  mode  of  living,  and  finally  the 
methods  employed  between  master  and  man  for  the  settle- 
ment and  adjustment  of  disputes  by  boards  of  arbitration. 
It  will  be  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  that  in  an  industry 
like  the  finer  pottery,  white  earthenware  and  china,  America 
cannot  produce  on  equal  terms  with  England  or  other  Euro- 
pean countries.  America  lacks  everything  that  European 
countries  possess  in  abundance — skilled  workmen  who  have 
imbibed  all  the  elements  of  their  art  from  childhood,  fore- 
men, managers  and  masters,  knowing  by  intuition  and  rule 
of  thumb  the  requirements  of  their  trade,  the  treatment  and 
combination  of  materials,  the  body  and  the  glazing,  the 
degree  of  firing  requisite,  etc. 

Many  of  the  manufacturers  who  have  had  the  greatest 
success  started  as  workmen  from  the  bench.  Their  sons,  if 
raised  in  the  same  way,  devoting  close  attention  to  the 
management,  bring  to  greater  prominence  the  works  in- 
herited from  their  fathers.  Where  this  is  not  adhered  to, 
capital  and  reputation  do  not  save  from  bankruptcy. 

If  such  be  the  case  in  England,  where  the  industry,  so  to 
speak,  is  to  the  manner  born,  how  much  more  so  in  America, 
where  it  is  ingrafted  upon  a  not  very  willing  tree?  Our 
manufacturers,  periodically  laying  claim  to  an  increase  of 
protective  duties,  are  in  the  habit  of  pointing  to  the  higher 
rate  of  wages  paid  in  this  country.  They  want  it  under- 
stood that  their  inability  to  keep  out  importations  is  due 
only  to  the  insufiiciency  of  protection,  insuificient  on 
account  of  higher  labor  cost.  They  never  point  to  other 
deficiencies  which  are  far  more  important. 

I  had  endeavored  to  inquire  into  these.  I  alluded  to 
them  in  my  report  without,  however,  enlarging  upon  them. 
12 


178  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

It  was  important  to  show  the  methods  of  manufacture  pur- 
sued in  England  and  the  aid  given  to  this  industry  by  the 
state  as  well  as  by  individuals.  As  pointed  out,  all  the  aid 
consisted  of  the  intellectual  aid  given,  that  of  science  and 
art  education.  I  was  not  remiss  in  stating  the  difference 
of  wages,  both  by  the  week  and  the  piece  rate  between 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  North  Staff ordshira 

My  report  was  of  February,  1886.  The  potters  of  Tren- 
ton, under  the  headlines,  "  Shall  the  pottery  industries  of 
the  United  States  be  destroyed  ? "  in  a  pamphlet  dated 
March  12,  1888,  and  presented  to  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee,  took  exception.  Their  contention  will  be  quite 
interesting  and  instructive  to  the  reader  as  illustrating  a 
system  of  arithmetic,  whicb  may  very  properly  be  called 
protection  arithmetic.  According  to  this  system,  3  plus  4 
are  made  to  figure  8  or  6,  as  the  exigency  of  the  case  may 
require.  Though  I  had  cited  in  my  list  of  comparative 
piece  rates  quite  a  number  of  items  at  over  100  per  cent, 
above  English  rates,  they  considered  the  case  unfairly  stated. 
They  objected  that  in  comparing  piece  rates  of  wages  and 
rates  of  cost,  I  did  not  accept  the  whole  list  and  draw  a 
general  averaga  My  reasons  for  not  taking  the  whole  of 
the  list,  and  for  confining  myself  to  such  items  of  comparison 
in  piece  rates  as  were  made  by  the  same  processes  in  both 
countries  will  prove  ample  in  the  light  of  later  information. 
Yarious  improvements  in  the  mode  of  manufacture  in 
England  had  not  been  adopted  in  Trenton.  They  had  not 
adopted  them  even  in  1888,  a  year  or  two  later,  when  I 
again  visited  Trenton.  The  reason  given  was  the  same  as 
is  always  given,  that  the  workmen  would  object  to  their 
introduction,  and  not  be  willing  to  accept  a  lower  wage  rate 
with  the  new  device  than  with  the  old.  In  England  the 
manufacturer  had  met  with  the  same  difficulties,  but  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  179 

higher  wages  per  diem  possible  under  the  improved  methods, 
in  spite  of  the  reduced  piece  rate,  had  gradually  overcome 
these  objections. 

High  protective  tariffs  are  preservers  of  obsolete  methods 
until  closely  pressed  by  home  competition.  In  this  instance 
the  cheapening  in  England  was  especially  prominent  in  flat 
dishes  and  pressed  ware,  where  improved  methods  led  to 
great  savings  in  the  labor  cost.  I  confined  myself  to  hollow 
ware  and  larger  dishes,  where  by  the  nature  of  the  articles 
the  process  could  not  vary  much  in  the  two  countries. 

The  drawing  of  an  average  can  only  be  misleading.  It 
is  unscientific  and  must  lead  to  error.  A  comparative  list 
of  prices  may  contain  articles  paid  at  equal  rates,  but 
employing  most  of  the  time  of  the  workmen,  while  other 
articles  may  be  paid  at  double  the  rate,  but  be  of  small 
importance  in  the  output.  Thus  a  much  higher  average 
would  be  established  than  that  practically  existing.* 

Assertions  of  the   Trenton  Potters. 

The  claim,  however,  of  the  Trenton  manufacturers  will 
stand  in  very  good  stead  here.     No  figures  could  be  more 

*  This  is  only  one  of  the  methods  resorted  to,  when  claim  is  made  for 
legislative  favors.  The  Trenton  manufacturers  in  their  statement  give 
full  week  earnings,  while  the  English  in  my  report  only  cover  actual 
time  employed.  The  time  of  58  hours  in  Trenton  against  barely  more 
than  45  hours  in  Staffordshire  ought  to  be  considered.  The  work-people 
are  still  devoted  worshipers  at  the  shrine  of  Saint  Monday.  But  the 
Staffordshire  aggregate  earnings  are  further  increased  as  the  weeks  of 
work  are  48  to  50,  while  in  the  Trenton  earnings  only  34  to  42  weeks' 
work  appears  in  the  occupations  and  for  the  year  in  comparison.  All  this, 
of  course,  gives  an  entirely  different  construction  to  their  wage  lists, 
especially  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  Trenton  manufacturers,  like 
their  brethren  in  other  industries,  select  for  required  effect  the  highest 
paid  individual  earners,  and  set  them  against  an  average  or  against  lower 
earnings  in  the  same  occupations  for  England. 


180  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

profitably  invited  for  the  proving  of  the  unreliability  of 
averages,  to  use  a  mild  term.  By  adding  the  articles  which 
are  made  in  England,  either  entirely  by  machinery  in  press- 
ing moulds,  or  with  improved  tools,  batting  machines,  steam 
jiggers,  etc.,  they  show  differences  of  158  per  cent,  and  in 
some  instances  as  high  as  275  per  cent.,  and  finally  draw  an 
average  and  say  "  that  where  the  whole  list  is  taken,  English 
and  American,  the  difference  is  112  per  cent,  instead  of  57 
per  cent,  [what  they  make  my  comparisons  to  average],  and 
these  figures  in  England  are  good  '  from  oven  '  prices,  while 
the  American  prices  are  good  '  from  hand,'  a  difference  vari- 
ously estimated  at  from  10  per  cent,  to  20  per  cent,  additional, 
in  round  figures,  therefore  a  difference  of  125  per  cent  in 
wages."  Now  let  us  see  what  a  comparison  of  the  actual 
conditions  demonstrates. 

It  is  important  for  an  understanding  of  the  general  factors 
in  price  making  in  pottery,  and  especially  that  kind  of 
pottery  which  is  most  extensively  used  in  the  United  States 
— white  earthen  ware  or  white  granite  ware — to  know  that  in 
the  cost  of  production  the  labor  cost  stands  in  about  one- 
half  of  the  net  selling  price,  the  material  (coal,  clay,  etc.) 
and  the  gross  profits  taking  the  other  half.  In  Staffordshire 
the  exact  relations,  as  from  the  account  books  of  manu- 
facturers (copied  by  myself),  stand:  Labor,  471^;  gross 
profits,  23^ ;  material,  29 — equal  to  100  as  price  unit 

Clay  and  coal  are  higher  in  Trenton  than  in  Staffordshire. 
Coal  is  nearly  double.  Ball  clay,  much  of  which  is  imported, 
pays  $3  a  ton  duty,  about  50  per  cent  If,  on  top  of  all  this, 
labor  is  125  per  cent  higher  than  in  England,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  see  how  it  is  possible  that  many  a  manufacturer 
in  potteries,  who  twenty  years  ago  was  a  poor  man,  has 
realized  a  fortune  since.  And  this,  up  to  1883,  under  a  duty 
of  not  more  than  40  per  cent  on  white  ware,  since  raised  by 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  181 

various  pushing5?  and  the  application  of  the  methods  usual 
ou  such  occasions,  to  at  present  about  55  per  cent. 

That  the  increase  of  duty  obtained  in  1883  was  not 
demanded  by  the  exigency  of  the  case  might  be  taken  from 
the  fact  that  even  up  to  then  the  manufacturers  had  pros- 
pered when  they  understood  their  business.  It  was,  how- 
ever, only  partially  an  increase,  important  in  higher  cost 
goods,  but  insignificant  in  the  lower  cost  ware,  where  value 
was  comparatively  small  in  relation  to  the  bulk.  How 
these  increases  were  brought  about  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  computation  : 

The  net  cost  of  a  crate  of  white  granite  ware  was  at  that 
time  £5  15s.  Id.  ($28.14).  The  net  charges  upon  this  are 
£1  65.  9c?.  ($6.36),  bringing  the  cost  up,  when  landed  free  of 
duty,  to  £7  2s.  4o?.  ($35).  The  duty  before  1883  on  these 
goods  at  40  per  cent,  was  levied  on  the  whole  amount  of  £7 
2s.  4id.  ($35).  This  made  the  duty  borne  by  the  goods  equal 
to  49  per  cent,  on  the  invoice  value.  The  tariff  of  1883 
raised  the  duty  to  55  per  cent.,  but  abolished  the  duty  on 
charges.  The  McKinley  tariff  bill  makes  no  change  in  the 
rate  of  duty,  but  the  McKinley  administration  bill  restored 
the  duty  on  packing  charges.  These  amount  to  about  16s. 
6c?.,  or  $4 ;  hence,  an  additional  protection  of  $2.20  has  been 
realized,  making  the  duty  on  the  net  cost  of  the  goods 
($28.14)  $17.68,  or  62f. 

Of  course,  in  decorated  goods  and  finer  ware  the  charges 
and  duties  upon  these  latter  become  comparatively  insignifi- 
cant. The  white  ware,  however,  is  the  most  important  in 
this  consideration  of  comparative  values  and  costs.  It  is 
upon  this,  also,  that  the  contention  of  the  Trenton  potters 
was  based  in  answering  my  report. 

Having  shown  what  rates  of  duty  are  being  levied,  and 
how  the  increase  in  rates  was  brought  about  in  a  roundabout 


182  THE  ECONOMY  OP  HIGH   WAGES. 

wayj  we  can  now  build  up  a  cost  comparison  on  the  state- 
ment of  the  men  of  Trenton. 

Staflfordshire.  Trenton. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Material 29^  29^  plus    50  =    44i 

Labor 47^  47.^  plus  125  =  107 

Profit  and  expense...  23^  23  ^  plus    97^="    4G* 

Total 100  198 

But  the  American  manufacturers,  in  the  statements  pub- 
lished by  their  association,  themselves  show  a  higher  per- 
centage of  profits  than  the  English  manufacturers.  These 
relations  of  labor,  material,  and  profit  also  appear  in  the 
census  figures  of  1880. 

These  statements  show  material  26J,  labor  46J,  and 
gross  profit  27  in  100  as  the  selling  value. 

Hence,  according  to  this,  they  show  a  cost  statement  which 
compares  with  the  English  normal  rate  of  100,  as  follows: 

English.  Trenton. 

Material 29^  26i  plus    50  =    39^ 

Labor ^47i  46^  plus  125  =  105  J 

Profit 23|  27    plus  100  —    54 

Total 100  199i 

Accordingly  the  relations  of  profit  to  the  rest  of  the 
manufacturing  charges  are  10  per  cent,  higher  than  those  of 
the  best  showing  of  English  pottery  manufacturers. 

The  English  gross  profit,  however,  is  above  the  normal 
average.  The  year  1882-83  was  highly  profitable  for  the 
potteries.  The  impending  change  in  the  American  tariff 
threw  a  very  large  business  into  the  bands  of  the  Stafford- 
shire potters.  The  American  shippers,  anxious  to  make  use 
of  the  time  given   them  for  filling  their  warehouses  with 

*  The  plus  percentage  of  97i  is  arrived  at  by  taking  the  English  material 
and  labor  of  77  and  the  American  co-relative  cost  of  152  as  a  basis. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  183 

goods  under  the  old  rates,  were  foolishly  wasting  the  duties 
saved,  in  the  enhanced  prices  they  paid  to  the  Staffordshire 
manufacturers.  The  latter  did  not  fail  to  improve  the  oppor- 
tunity. The  year  1884-85,  for  which  I  made  my  examina- 
tions, was  therefore  more  normal.  This  only  showed  a 
profit  rate  of  12|  per  cent. 

It  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  the  Trenton  manufact- 
urers to  keep  going  and  pay  running  expenses  under  a  rate 
of  gross  profit  which  would  pay  a  handsome  income  to  a 
Staffordshire  manufacturer.  The  waste  in  manufacturing, 
the  allowances  for  claims  from  customers,  etc.,  are  in  them- 
selves sufficient  reasons  for  necessarily  greater  gross  profits. 
But  waiving  this  for  the  present,  and  accepting  the  rate  as 
above,  the  question  remains  to  be  answered,  how  manufact- 
urers can  exist  with  goods  costing  (according  to  their  show- 
ing) a  full  100  per  cent,  more  to  produce  than  English 
goods  under  a  protection  of  49  per  cent  (up  to  1883),  and 
55  percent,  up  to  the  present  tariff  bill.  But  this  is  not  all. 
American  goods  do  not  command  the  prices  of  English 
goods.  They  are,  so  far  as  quality  goes,  considered  inferior. 
At  equal  prices  everybody  would  buy  the  English  goods  in 
preference.  As  it  is,  a  great  many  white  goods  are  brought 
from  England  to  be  decorated  here.  The  decorating  works, 
putting  considerable  labor  on  the  goods,  prefer  paying  a 
higher  price  to  the  taking  of  risks  that  the  goods  on  which 
they  have  expended  much  time  and  labor  would  craze  after 
being  put  on  sale. 

The  selling  prices  of  English  and  Trenton  goods  show 
the  corresponding  positions  very  plainly.  The  goods  are 
sold  at  equal  prices  in  English  shillings.  But  the  shilling 
of  Staffordshire  goods  (after  deducting  the  discounts  and 
adding  duty,  etc.)  is  sold  at  18f  cents  by  the  importer,  the 
Trenton  manufacturer's  shilling  at  16  cents. 


184  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Thus  a  differeDce  of  some  15  per  cent,  is  considered  to 
exist.  In  the  face  of  such  facts,  it  becomes  difficult  to 
see  how  the  extraordinary  wage-rates  can  be  paid  bj 
the  Trenton  manufacturers,  and  leave  them  sufficient  mar- 
gin to  exist  and  to  make  very  handsome  accumulations 
besides. 

We  can  see  the  absurdity  of  the  statements  upon  which 
their  claims  are  rested,  when  we  observe  that  the  English 
goods  costing  100,  paying  duty  65,  charges  5,  and  importers' 
profit,  say  15  per  cent,  equal  to  25,  are  sold  accordingly  at 
182,  and  that  against  this  the  Trenton  makers  have  to 
sell  their  goods  at  only  160,  goods  which  at  their  own  show- 
ing cost  them  a  full  200  to  put  on  the  market.  Arithmetic 
of  this  kind  is  not  apt  to  impress  business  men  seriously. 
It  would  invite  contempt  rather  than  the  consideration  of 
Congress,  were  it  weighed  there  in  the  balances  in  use  in 
the  commercial  world. 

IneflS-ciency  attracted  by  a  High  Tariflf. 

If  the  average  cost  of  labor  were  125  per  cent,  more  than 
in  England,  it  would  be  difficult  to  understand  how  so  many 
of  the  manufacturers,  twenty  years  ago  poor  men,  could 
realize  large  fortunes  under  a  tariff  of  40  per  cent.,  or  add- 
ing duty  on  charges,  49  percent  One  of  the  manufacturers, 
a  tborough-going  old  English  potter,  who  at  all  times 
opposed  the  endeavors  of  the  later  generation  of  Trenton 
potters  for  higher  duties,  emphatically  declares  that  he 
made  most  of  his  money  under  a  tariff  of  25,  and  later  on 
40  per  cent  This  is  quite  natural.  The  higher  tariffs  in- 
flated cost  and  increased  competition  by  incompetent  hands. 
Of  these,  after  depressing  the  industry,  a  number  have 
failed.     In  view  of  the  general  prevalence  of  high  profits, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  185 

these  failures  must  be  attributed  not  to  insufficient  tariff 
duties,  but  to  incapacity  and  mismanagement. '^ 

Few  things  eat  into  the  profits  and  the  capital  of  a  pottery 
so  much  as  waste,  due  to  breakage,  to  imperfections  in  the 
firing,  and  to  crazing.  Here  is  the  touchstone  of  capacity, 
skill,  and  technical  knowledge  of  master,  manager,  and  work- 
man. 

At  the  time  of  the  great  coal  strike  in  the  anthracite 
region,  Trenton  potters  suffered  especially  heavy  losses  from 
crazing  of  their  ware.  They  had  to  substitute  bituminous 
coal,  and  this  change  in  the  fuel  led  to  some  very  disastrous 
results,  not  universal,  however,  thereby  proving   the  effi- 


*  The  high  profits  made  by  the  Trenton  manufacturers  have  recently 
been  brought  to  light  by  the  prospectus  of  the  "  Trenton  Potteries  Com- 
pany," organized  by  the  union  of  five  of  the  leading  firms.  Of  the 
$3,000,000  capital,  the  $1,250,000  of  preferred  stock  represents  nearly 
the  whole  property,  undoubtedly  at  the  highest  possible  valuation. 
(The  value  of  real  estate,  machinery,  patterns,  merchandise,  and  cash  in 
bank  is  given  at  $1,300,000).  The  $1,750,000  of  common  stock  is,  there- 
fore, almost  all  water  to  absorb  the  surplus  earnings  over  the  8  per  cent. 
on  the  preferred  stock.  The  prospectus  shows  that  for  the  last  three 
years  the  average  earnings  on  the  common  stock  were  11  per  cent.,  and 
for  1891  they  were  16  per  cent,  after  providing  for  the  expense  of  man- 
agement. On  the  appraised  value  of  the  entire  property,  the  average 
annual  net  profits  for  the  three  years  1889,  1890,  and  1891  were  equal  to 
a  dividend  of  22^  per  cent.  The  net  earnings  for  1891  were  $401,000, 
equal  to  a  dividend  of  29  per  cent,  on  the  same  basis. 

This  is  in  singular  contrast  to  the  statement  of  one  member  of  this 
consolidation  made  before  the  McKinley  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means 
in  the  spring  of  1890.  Said  he  :  "  It  is  for  you,  gentlemen,  to  say  whether 
this  struggling  industry  shall  be  destroyed  for  the  benefit  of  foreign  manu- 
facturers." 

Struggling  infants,  and  deeply  concerned  for  the  wage-earner  are  they, 
when  the  tariflE  is  discussed.  But  no  sooner  have  they  carried  home  per- 
mission to  levy  increased  taxes,  than  they  reduce  the  wages  of  their 
workmen. 


186  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

ciency  or  inefficiency  of  the  management  as  the  cause  of 
the  difference.  The  trouble  in  crazing  is  that  it  often  shows 
itself  months  after  the  ware  has  been  burned,  and  so  the 
manufacturers  often  get  goods  back  long  after  they  have 
been  sold. 

This  condition  of  the  industry  largely  explains  the  scram- 
ble for  higher  rates,  though  discountenanced  by  the  older 
and  wiser  heads  in  the  trade.  To  cover  and  perpetuate 
inefficiency  ought  not  even  be  the  object  of  paternal  legis- 
lation. To  this  inferiority  alone  is  due  the  continued  and 
increasingly  large  importation  of  ware  from  the  Stafford- 
shire potteries  despite  high  duties.  It  has  been  a  common 
saying  among  leading  North  Staffordshire  manufacturers 
that  they  do  not  wish  the  American  tariff  reduced  on  their 
own  ware ;  that  the  American  manufacturer  now  lives  in  a 
fool's  paradise,  and  does  not  make  improvements  and  savings, 
and  a  close  study  of  his  business,  such  as  he  would  make  if 
harder  pressed  by  England. 

Labor-saving  Appliances. 

How  the  introduction  of  labor-saving  devices  in  pottery 
making  has  helped  in  reducing  prices  of  the  ware,  and  at 
the  same  time  increasing  the  workingmen's  earnings,  will  be 
seen  from  a  few  facts  which  I  took  from  the  books  of  a  pot- 
tery in  Hanley  (North  Staffordshire).  Dinner  plates  (the 
unit  of  price  is  per  score  dozen,  or  240  pieces)  in  1880  were 
made  by  hand  tool  and  jigger,  at  the  rate  of  4s.  6d.,  or  $1.10; 
men  could  make  one  score  dozen  a  day.  In  1889,  employ- 
ing the  steam  jigger  and  steam  tool,  or  monkey,  they  could 
make  two  score  dozen  a  day,  at  the  rate  of  35.  a  score,  or  6s. 
day  wages  ($1.46.)  Slop  jars  used  to  sell  at  6s.  6^'.  ($1.58)  in 
1880,  and  sell  now  from  2s.  6d.  to  3s.  (61  to  73  cents).    The 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  187 

quantity  made  bj  hand  was  not  over  a  dozen,  and  is  now 
six  dozen  a  day.  Jugs  were  paid  for  in  1850  at  the  rate  of 
15d.  a  dozen,  when  a  workman  made  four  dozen  a  day.  In 
1880  the  rate  had  gone  down  to  10c?.  a  dozen,  and  the  work- 
man could  make  six  to  eight  dozen  a  day.  Now  they 
are  made  by  machinery.  In  1889  they  were  paid  for  at 
4i^d.  (9  cents)  a  dozen.  In  1880,  with  an  output  of  forty 
dozen  a  week,  at  the  rate  of  lOd.  (20  cents)  per  dozen,  the 
workman  made  33s.  4:d.  ($8.08)  a  week.  At  the  present 
time,  with  the  help  of  machinery,  at  the  rate  of  A^d.  a  dozen, 
he  makes  from  250  to  300  dozen  a  week,  earning  from  94s. 
to  112s.  6d,  ($22.87  to  $27.35),  leaving  for  himself,  after 
paying  his  help,  about  £3  ($14.58). 

Equally  important  with  the  improvements  just  noted  in 
cheapening  prices  has  been  the  improvement  made  in  the 
building  of  kilns  and  the  consequent  saving  of  fuel.  The 
cost  of  fuel  in  ordinary  white  ware  is  about  one-third  of  the 
cost  of  all  other  materials  used  in  English  potteries.  A 
manufacturer  in  the  Staffordshire  potteries  told  me  that 
when  he  began  he  used  for  firing  a  bisque  oven  fourteen  tons 
of  coal,  but  that  now,  with  the  down  draught,  he  could  do 
the  same  with  ten  tons  of  slag  and  two  of  coal,  and  slag  does 
not  cost  more  than  half  the  price  of  coal.  In  America  the 
quantity  is  larger  by  one  half. 

The  cost  comparison  in  this  instance  would  be,  taking 
coal  as  it  stood  in  1885,  at  the  time  of  my  report,  coal,  $2.07 
per  ton  and  slag  $1.09 ;  and  including  cartage  from  the  pit, 
$2.31  and  $1.33,  respectively.  With  the  old  firing  method 
the  firing  of  a  kiln  stood  $32.34,  against  $17.92  with  the 
present  mode — a  saving  of  $14.42  in  one  firing.  In  Trenton 
as  much  as  50  to  60  per  cent,  more  fuel  is  consumed  in  the 
firing,  as  I  am  informed  by  the  best  authorities. 

It  is  well  to  bear  these  facts  in  mind.    They  show  how  com- 


188  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

plex  the  questions  are  that  we  have  to  consider  when  estimat- 
ing price-making  in  so  variegated  an  industry  as  pottery ;  and 
that  it  is  one  thing  to  set  up  claims,  and  another  thing  to  have 
them  tested  in  the  light  of  reality.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
necessary  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact,  here  so  strongly  marked, 
that  high  protective  tariffs  are  an  injury  rather  than  a  help 
to  an  industry.  They  attract  people  unfit  for  the  work,  lead 
to  wastefulness,  perpetuate  obsolete  methods;  and  while 
the  well-qualified  make  fortunes  in  the  end,  the  gift  is  for 
them,  even,  not  an  unmixed  benefit. 

Sanitary  Ware. 

Many  manufacturers  admit  that  competition  among  them- 
selves, and  especially  the  rushing  in  of  incapable  men  into 
a  branch  of  which  they  have  little  or  no  knowledge,  are  far 
greater  dangers  than  English  competition.  This  has  shown 
itself  to  a  marked  degree  in  sanitary  ware.  A  number  of 
manufacturers  have  gone  into  this  branch  originally  on  ac- 
count of  higher  profits  and  the  large  demand  resulting  from 
the  almost  universal  employment  of  stationary  washstands 
and  sanitary  appliances  instead  of  the  chamberware  of  old. 
Competition  in  consequence  has  become  so  keen  among 
them,  that,  if  price  alone  were  considered,  some  of  the  articles 
could  not  be  imported  even  if  there  were  no  duty  at  all. 
English  goods  are  taken  in  preference  by  builders  and 
architects,  on  account  of  their  superior  quality ;  yet  the 
price  differences  are  so  greatly  in  favor  of  the  Trenton  goods, 
that  this  alone  must  insure  them  a  considerable  market. 
The  manufacturers  would  wish  to  raise  prices,  but  they  are 
deterred  by  the  fear  that  so  much  competition  would  be 
invited,  that  they  soon  would  be  worse  off  than  before.  I 
have  obtained  the  price  of  some  of  the  leading  articles  from 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  189 

an  importer  of  English  and  jobber  in  Trenton  sanitary  ware. 
They  are  as  follows : 

JOBBINO    PRICE. 

Best  Best 

English  ware.    Trenton  ware. 

14-inch  round  plug  basin $1.12  $0.65 

15  X  19-inch  oval  plug  basin 2.50  1.90 

Large  Bedfordshire  urinal,  lipped 6.30  3.80 

Washout 10.80  7.35  to  8.50 

In  England  the  manufacturers  of  sanitary  ware  maintain 
their  prices  far  more  easily  and  more  firmly  than  the  Tren- 
ton potters.  The  same  is  true  of  almost  every  industry  in 
the  two  countries. 

A  most  important  economic  principle  derives  its  vital  sup- 
port from  these  trade  facts,  and  a  few  words  on  the  subject  will 
not  be  out  of  place  here.  The  manufacture  of  sanitary  ware 
requires  a  much  larger  capital  than  ordinary  white  ware.  In 
thislatter  branch,  in  England,  many  workmen  andsmall  begin- 
ners start  almost  every  year  on  their  own  account.  They  rent 
small  factories,  they  and  their  wives  work  on  workingmen's 
wages;  and  by  economy  and  close  attention  frequently  suc- 
ceed in  building  up  a  lasting  business,  if  things  keep  run- 
ning smoothly,  industrially  and  commercially.  Others  not 
so  fortunate,  or  wanting  in  the  commercial  requirements, 
are  forced,  after  a  life's  savings  are  worked  up,  to  return  to 
the  bench,  which  they  had  better  never  have  left.  These 
men  are  always  pressed  for  money,  and  keep  a  close  run 
with  the  older,  wealthier  houses.  This  has  much  to  do  with 
the  closeness  of  prices  and  smallness  of  profits  in  English 
pottery,  referred  to  above.  It  is  by  no  means  American 
competition  and  the  American  tariff  which  reduces  prices 
and  profits  there,  as  we  are  taught  by  the  economists  of  the 
American  school. 

In  sanitary  ware  the  situation  is  different.     No  small 


190  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

man  can  engage  in  it.  The  manufacturers  are  all  wealthy. 
The  outfit  in  moulds  alone  absorbs  a  small  fortune.  The 
new  era,  the  era  of  change,  requires  a  constant  additional 
outlay  for  new  patterns.  Another  important  fact  is  that 
the  heavy  body  of  clay  of  these  large  pieces  takes  much 
time  to  dry.  It  takes  a  month  to  turn  out  sanitary  goods 
against  a  week  in  ordinary  ware.  This  has  enabled  the 
sanitary  ware- manufacturers  to  maintain  their  prices  and 
rates  of  profit. 

In  Trenton  the  very  opposite  has  occurred.  The  money 
rapidly  made  in  the  highly  protected  pottery  ware  turned  a 
very  fierce  competition  into  this,  with  results  as  noted. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  all  these  unfavorable  influences,  the  profits  of 
sanitary  ware  manufacturers  are  so  high  that  they  yield  the 
dividends  pointed  out  above.  The  five  firms  which  have 
formed  the  combination  mentioned  above,  besides  manu- 
facturing toilet  and  table  ware,  make  "  about  75  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  output  of  the  famous  sanitary  plumbing  ware 
made  in  this  country,"  as  the  prospectus  says.  The  pub- 
lic remember  the  strike  of  the  Trenton  sanitary  ware 
makers  of  last  winter,  lasting  several  months,  in  resistance 
to  the  reductions  which  the  masters  wanted  to  impose  on 
them.  The  facts  here  stated  bring  the  wages  question  in 
the  tariff  into  proper  relief. 

Brown  Stoneware. 

The  owner  of  a  pottery,  manufacturing  brown  stoneware, 
requested  me  to  obtain  for  him  the  prices  paid  in  England 
for  corresponding  work.  A  strong  tariff  reformer,  he  had 
his  suspicions  that  the  claim  of  the  protectionists  that  the 
high  wage  earnings  of  American  potters  implied  high  labor 
cost,  requiring  high  duties  as  an  offset,  was  not  borne  out 


THE  ECONOMY  OP  HIGH  WAGES.  \o,\ 

by  the  facts.  In  bis  branch  he  was  of  opinion  that  the 
higher  earnings  were  due  only  to  the  greater  quantity 
turned  out.  I  obtained  the  revised  price  list  from  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Associated  Stoneware  Throwers,  England,  for 
1889,  and  my  correspondent  in  Minnesota  supplied  me  with 
the  data  from  his  wage  books.  I  take  articles  which  are 
well  known,  and  which  are  called  in  both  countries  by  the 
same  names.  I  will  quote  the  essential  parts  relating  to 
this  branch  from  the  letters  of  my  correspondent,  Mr.  O.  M. 
Hall : 

"  The  Red  Wing  Stoneware  Company,  of  which  I  am  secretary,  and  in 
which  I  am  personally  interested,  claims  to  be  the  largest  single  stoneware 
pottery  in  the  United  States.  It  has  been  in  existence  fifteen  years,  and, 
after  a  struggle  for  life,  is  now  in  a  highly  prosperous  condition.  The 
demand  for  our  ware  so  far  exceeds  our  capacity  that  we  make  all  we 
can  ;  we  do  not  limit  the  amount  of  work  which  the  men  are  allowed  to 
do.  They,  however,  work  by  daylight  only.  In  accord  with  the  techni- 
calities of  the  business,  men  are  paid  by  the  '  day,'  that  is,  the  '  potter's 
day,'  which  consists  of  a  fixed  number  of  gallons  of  a  certain  kind  or  size 
of  ware.  The  average  potter  will  do  five  '  potter's  day's '  work  in  one 
calendar  day,  and  he  can  do  six  if  an  expert  and  not  limited  in  quantity. 
The  potter  at  his  wheel,  even  though  he  only  turns  out  the  common  jug 
and  pot,  is  a  skilled  laborer.  He  commences  on  the  smaller  sizes  of  ware, 
and  as  he  becomes  more  skilful  he  advances  to  the  larger  sizes.  Conse- 
quently, the  skill  of  the  workman  is  indicated  by  the  size  of  the  pots  he 
turns. 

"  The  data  I  send  is  absolutely  reliable,  and  is  taken  fresh  from  the 
company's  books.  You  are  at  liberty  to  use  it,  and  the  name  of  our 
company  and  of  its  president,  John  H.  Rich,  and  my  own  name,  in  any 
manner  you  wish." 

This  company  ships  ware  to  Winnipeg,  where  it  com- 
petes with  ware  made  in  Ontario,  although  the  Canadian 
tariff  imposes  a  duty  of  3  cents  per  gallon,  equal  to  60  per 
ceot.  ad  valorem^  the  selling  price  on  cars  at  Eed  Wing  being 
5  cents  per  gallon  for  butter  tubs,  and  6  cents  per  gallon  for 
jugs. 


192 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 


Comparing,  after  this  explanation,  the  English  labor 
price  with  the  American,  the  reader  will  find  a  flood  of  light 
thrown  on  the  subject  of  high  wages  and  low  cost  of  pro- 
duction. As  the  English  price  is  per  100,  I  reduce  the 
American  ratio  of  day  work  to  the  same  unit  of  100 : 

Number 

Wages,  Red  Wing,  turned  out  per 

Gallon  Butter  Pots.        English,  per  100.                   per  100.  calendar  day. 

One-half 4s.  6d.  =  $1.09  $0.71-i3^  *420 

One %8.M.=    1.58                1.00  *300 

Two 12a.         =    2.93                1.62  *200 

Three 18s.  6d.  =    4.50               2.44J  +163 

Four 25s.         =    6.00               3.75  +120 

Five 30s.         =    7.30               5.33i  +90 

Six 50s.          =12.00                6.66J  +72 

The  first  two  numbers  are  now  mostly  made  by  machinery 
and  moulds  at  Eed  Wing,  at  a  cost  of  35  cents  for  the  half-gal- 
lon size,  and  60  cents  for  the  gallon  size  per  100 — about  one- 
half  of  the  turner's  rate.  The  men  pay  25  cents  per  day  for 
steam,  and  50  cents  to  the  ball  boy,  in  the  smaller  sizes,  and 
$1  in  the  larger  ones. 

The  weekly  earnings,  taken  from  the  pay  roll,  of  five 
good  average  turners,  for  fourteen  consecutive  weeks,  show 
the  following,  the  conditions  being  normal  and  wages  at  the 
standard  rates  above  specified : 

Kind  of  work. 

Gallons.  14  weeks'  pay.     Reduced  to  week.       Net  weekly. 

A                 2  $218.59  $15.61  $11.31 

B                  3  269.35  19.24  14.74 

C                  4  310.25  22.16  16.16 

D                5  335.00  24.00  18.00 

E                 6  463.65  33.12  25.63 

I  am  informed  by  my  friends  in  England  that  London 
potteries  pay  rates  somewhat  below  those  obtained  from  the 

*  Five  potter's  days.  +  Six  potter's  days. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  I93 

Secretary  of  the  Associated  Stoneware  Throwers.  The  dif- 
ference would  not  be  material,  and  would  in  no  way  invali- 
date the  proposition  that  high  weekly  wages,  where  the  best 
energies  of  master  and  men  are  engaged  in  the  work,  by  no 
means  preclude  a  low  cost  of  production.  But  Such  results 
are  reached  more  by  close  attention  to,  and  thorough  under- 
standing of,  all  the  manufacturing  details  than  by  politics 
raising  duties  even  after  they  have  become  inoperative  as 
protective  measures,  as  to  an  extent  in  ordinary  white  ware, 
and  to  a  much  larger  extent  in  sanitary  ware. 
13 


CHAPTEK  11. 

The  Trust  and  Monopolies  alone  benefited  by  Tariff  Legislation. — The 
Glass  Industry  in  Evidence. — The  Piece  Rate  of  Wages  Lower  than 
in  England.— Dividends  declared  of  30  and  50  Per  Cent.— Tariff 
Increase  in  Spite  of  these  Facts. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  demonstrated  the 
sophisms  employed  by  manufacturers  in  vindication  of  their 
claims  for  high  duties.  The  industry  described  is  one  of 
which  we  admitted  at  the  outset  that  it  could  not  exist,  in 
white  ware  at  least,  and  under  present  conditions,  without 
a  protective  duty.  The  people  are  willing  to  pay  protective 
duties  for  cultivating  home  industries,  and  if  any  industry 
deserves  cultivation,  certainly  pottery  as  an  art  industry 
does.  We  only  object  to  the  methods  at  hoodwinking  the 
public,  and  to  the  constant  claim  for  increasing  duties,  when 
the  lower  rates  had  proven  ample.  None  of  the  extenuating 
circumstances,  however,  can  be  applied  to  the  glass  industry. 
None  of  the  difficulties  exist  which  have  to  be  contended 
with  in  the  white  earthen  ware.  The  pots  of  glass  matter 
are  easily  made  if  you  have  the  right  materials,  and  these 
are  not  difficult  to  obtain.  Poor  workmen  are  not  so  apt  to 
spoil  good  material,  though  the  low  piece  rates  would  give 
them  but  a  poor  chance  for  making  a  comfortable  living. 
But  in  spite  of  all  this,  tariff  increases  were  asked  for  and 
granted  when  no  need  for  any  protective  duties  was  apparent. 
To  ask  for  increased  duties  here,  shows  plainly  the  insatiable 
nature  of  protectionism. 

In  the  whole  line  of  tariff  exactions  imposed  upon  a  long- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF  HIGH  WAGES.  195 

enduring  nation,  nothing  offers  a  more  impressive  showing 
of  false  pretense,  of  the  debasing  of  the  law  into  a  handmaid 
of  exacting  monopolies  and  selfish  interests,  than  the  tariff 
status  of  this  industry.  Indeed,  it  is  a  regular  pons 
asinorum^  calculated  to  inspire  the  most  timid  politician, 
afraid  of  his  constantly  menacing  bugbear,  "  the  labor  vote," 
with  confidence  in  the  importance  and  strength  of  the  tariff 
reform  issue  as  an  ally  to  secure  the  support  of  every  think- 
ing workingman. 

Flint  Glass,  Hollow  Ware,  Table  Ware,  etc. 

From  beginning  to  end  the  law  is  full  of  increase  of  duties. 
I  will  briefly  state  the  old  rates,  and  the  new  rates  replacing 
them  : 

Oreen  and  Colored  and  Mint  and  Lime  Glass  Bottles,  etc. — New  duty, 
1  cent  per  pound ;  old  duty,  40  per  cent.  Increase  in  the  heavy  grades  of 
some,  50  per  cent. 

Flint  and  Lime,  Pressed,  Plain  Glassware. — New  duty,  60  per  cent. ; 
old  duty,  40  per  cent.     Increase,  50  per  cent. 

Flint  and  Lime,  Cut,  Engraved,  Painted,  Colored,  etc. — New  law,  60 
per  cent. ;  old  law,  45  per  cent.     Increase,  33^  per  cent. 

Thin-blown  Glass,  including  Glass  Chimneys,  etc. — New  law,  60  per 
cent.  ;  old  law,  40  and  45  per  cent.     Increase,  331  to  50  per  cent. 

Eeavy-Uown  Glass,  Plain,  blown  with  or  without  a  Mould. — New  law, 
60  per  cent. ;  old  law,  40  per  cent.     Increase,  50  per  cent. 

Now,  then,  there  must  have  been  tremendous  importa- 
tions of  European  pauper-labor  goods  to  justify  an  increase 
of  50  per  cent,  in  duties.  To  discourage  these  importations 
and  to  give  the  American  workingman  a  chance  to  maintain 
his  preponderatingly  high  wages  is  undoubtedly  the  object 
and  reason  of  this  new  addition.  By  no  means !  Of  the 
goods  which  come  into  competition  with  the  class  of  glass- 
ware now  under  consideration,  and  which  form  the  bulk  of 


196  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH'  WAGES. 

our  manufacture,  we  imported  in  the  fiscal  year  of  1889  a 
total  of  $830,000.  In  this  sum  is  included  $530,000  worth 
of  bottles  and  vials  which  came  in  filled,  and  are  separately 
dutiabla  So  the  whole  extent  of  flooding  the  American 
markets  with  plain  glassware  is  about  $300,000.  But  if  it 
were  not  for  the  high  duties,  we  should  have  our  industries 
at  once  destroyed  on  account  of  the  high  wages  ruling  in  this 
country,  and  the  reverse  conditions  prevailing  in  Europe. 
Well,  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel  on  what  foundations  of 
facts  this  pretense  stands. 

Some  highly  interesting  facts  bearing  on  this  subject  in 
England  and  America  will  throw  light  on  the  relative  cost 
of  labor. 

Mode  of  Pay  and  Comparative  Kates  in  England 
and  America. 

In  America  generally,  flint-glass  workers  are  paid  by  the 
move  or  shift.  A  move  means  half  a  day's  work,  and  con- 
tains a  varying  number  of  pieces,  according  to  their  size,  etc. 
The  day  is  divided  into  four  shifts.  One  shift  commences 
at  7.  At  1  P.M.  another  shift  comes  in.  The  first  shift 
comes  in  again  at  7  p.m.,  and  at  1  in  the  morning  the  second 
set  of  men  relieve  the  first  again.  The  set  of  men  working 
one  pot  are  called  a  shop.  A  shop  consists  generally  of  one 
blower,  a  gatherer,  a  helper,  and  three  or  four  boys.  In  the 
glass-bottle  department  the  wages  per  move  for  the  blower 
are  $2,  for  the  gatherer  $1.10.  The  boys  are  paid  by  the 
day,  and  average  less  than  a  dollar  a  day. 

Some  of  the  works  work  by  the  day.  Flint-glass  works 
in  Pittsburgh  gave  the  output  as  about  forty  gross  in  half- 
ounce  bottles  and  about  fifteen  gross  in  sixteen -ounce 
bottles  as  a  day's  work.     Those  works  were  operating  from 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  197 

7  in  the  morning  till  5  p.m.  The  list  prices  per  shop  (three 
men  and  four  boys)  of  a  gross  of  two-.ounce  flint  bottles  is 
58  cents,  or  less  than  five-twelfths  of  a  cent  apiece  ;  of  six- 
teen-ounce  French  bottles,  $1.45  a  gross,  or  about  1  cent 
apiece.  These  bottles  of  blown  glass  are  used  very  exten- 
sively by  druggists  and  in  all  putting-up  industries.  The 
quantity  turned  out  is  greater  per  move  or  turn  than  any- 
thing I  have  seen  in  Europe. 

In  another  leading  factory  I  found  a  day's  work  of  large- 
size  beer  mugs  with  handles  to  be  between  1,000  and  1,500. 
This  work  requires  considerable  labor.  The  glass  is  put  in 
the  mould  and  pressed  with  perpendicular  pressure  by  the 
presser ;  he  gets  $2  per  move  of  from  500  to  700  pieces, 
according  to  the  size.  The  finisher  gets  $1.65  per  move, 
and  the  gatherer  $1.30,  total,  $4.95  ;  which  for  two  moves 
per  day  makes  $9.90 ;  adding  the  labor  of  about  five  boys 
at  about  75  cents  per  day  (the  boys,  mostly  sons  or  other 
relatives  of  the  workmen,  are  paid  from  $3  to  $6  per  week), 
makes  a  total  for  the  day's  wages  of  a  shop  of  glass  press- 
ers  $13.65,  equal  to  $1.36  per  gross  for  the  largest  beer 
mug  with  handle,  and  something  less  than  a  cent  apiece  for 
the  pony  beer  glasses.  For  the  further  illustration  of  the 
lowness  of  the  piece  rates  in  this  industry  of  pressed  ware, 
I  will  give  the  quantities  turned  out  in  a  move  for  the 
wages  paid. 

Pitchers,  three-quart,  cylinder  mould,  $1.90  per  move; 
presser,  $2.50;  finisher,  $2.25;  gatherer,  $1.60;  handler 
(the  one  who  puts  on  the  handles),  $2.50 ;  total,  $8.85. 
Seven  boys  at,  say,  the  rate  of  50  cents  a  move,  average, 
$3.50 ;  total,  $12.35  ;  bringing  the  cost  of  labor  on  a  three- 
quart  pitcher  to  6t  cents.  One  quart  pitcher,  number  per 
move  305,  wages  same,  or  4  cents  apiece.  In  solid  stem 
bowls,  unfinished,  the  wages  are  for  the  presser,  $2  ;  for  the 


198  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

gatherer,  $1.20  ;  for  four  boys,  $2 ;  total,  $5.20.  The  out- 
put of  4|^-iTich  bowls^  is  650,  and  of  10-inch,  300.  So  the 
former  cost  about  f  cent,  and  the  larger  size  about  If  cents 
apiece  in  labor.  Comports  finished  run  from  3-inch  to 
10-inch,  at  an  average  of  $7.15  for  labor  of  presser,  finisher, 
and  gatherer,  and  four  boys.  The  output  is  900  pieces  for 
the  smaller,  and  300  for  the  larger  size — from  |  cent  to  2{ 
cents.  Berry  dishes,  4-inch  to  10-inch,  finished,  average 
labor  of  three  men  and  three  boys,  $6.60.  Output,  825  for 
the  smaller,  and  300  for  the  larger  size ;  cost,  per  piece,  from 
I  cent  to  2^  cents  apiece.  Finger  bowls,  round  finished — 
total  labor,  $7  ;  output,  550,  or  about  1|  cents  apiece. 

Fruit  jars  (one  quart),  presser,  $1.92^ ;  gatherer,  $1.20 ; 
four  boys,  $2;  total,  $5.12^;  number  per  move,  500  in 
block  mould,  and  600  in  joint  mould,  or  ^  cent  and  1  cent, 
respectively. 

I  confine  myself  in  this  statement  to  a  few  articles  well 
known  to  every  housewife.  By  comparing  the  wage  rates 
per  piece  paid  for  the  making,  with  what  the  purchaser  has 
to  pay,  how  small  the  actual  labor  cost  does  appear ! 

Having  shown  the  royal  pay  given  to  our  labor  in  one  of 
the  most  exacting  industries,  let  us  see  now  what  the  British 
workman  gets,  this  living  example  of  unbridled  free  trade. 

English  Kates. 

The  method  of  arranging  pay  and  the  regulation  of  out- 
put are  nearly  the  same  as  ours.  According  to  a  rule  of 
the  Glass  Blowers'  Trade  Union,  the  makers  or  blowers 
work  three  hours,  wbich  is  called  a  "move,"  and  they  work 
two  moves  at  a  time,  which  is  called  a  "  shift "  or  a  "  turn." 
According  to  a  very  old  custom,  eleven  moves  constitute  a 
"  week's  work."     All  over  that  is  reckoned  as  overtime,  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  199 

p^d  for  at  about  the  same  rate ;  eighteen  moves,  i.e.,  from 

Tuesday  morning  to  Saturday  afternoon,  is  considered  a 

full  week's  work.     In  some  cases  the  men  produce  three  of 

these  moves  in  a  turn  of  six  hours,  so  that  with  eight  turns, 

the  usual  number  per  week,  they  can  make   twenty-four 

moves. 

In  dishes,  lamps,  bottles,  tumblers,  goblets,  etc.,  tbe  eleven 

"  moves "'  or  "  week's  work  "  are  paid  : 

Presser £1    6s.,  or  $6.32 

Melter 1    63.,  or    6.33 

Gatherer 165.,  or    3.83 

Three  boys,  6a  18s.,  or    4.38 

Total $30.84 

Or  per  single  move  1.90 

In  blown  work  the  pay  of  the  blower  is  higher  than  the 

pressor's,  but,  with  two    boys  only,   aggregates   about  the 

same: 

Workmen £1  16«. 

Servitor 1    6s. 

Footmaker 17«. 

Two  boys 13«. 

Total £4  lis.  =  $23.11 

Or  per  move .    8.01 

We  can  now  make  a  few  comparisons  : 

First — Bottles,  Sixteen  ounce. — American,  |  cent  to  1  cent  apiece  ; 
English,  220  in  a  move,  at  $2.01,  equals  i^  cent ;  two  ounce  American,  ,^j 
cent  apiece  ;  two  ounce  Engl  ish.  350  in  move,  equal  to  -,\  cent  apiece. 

Second — Decanters,  one  quart. — American,  275  per  move,  total  pay 
$10.10,  equals  per  piece,  3 J  cents  ;  English,  45  per  move  ;  total  per  move 
$2.01,  equals  per  piece  4^^  cents. 

Third — PitcJicrs,  one  quart. — American,  4  cents  apiece  ;  English,  40 
in  move,  at  $1.90,  or  4J  cents 

Fourth — Goblets. — American,  650  per  move;  total  pay  per  shop,  $8.40, 
or  per  piece,  1-,^  cents  ;  English,  per  move,  150,  per  piece,  l^^^  cents. 

Fifth — T^imblers. — American,  700  per  move  ;    total  pay  per  shop. 


200  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

$6.62i,  or  per  piece,  ^^  cent  ;  English,  similar  size,  240  per  move,  of  f 
cent. 

Sixth — Finger  Bowls. — American,  per  piece,  1.25  cents  ;  English, 
180  in  a  move,  or  1.46  cents. 

These  few  examples  must  suffice,  taken  at  random  from 
the  respective  trade  lists.  They  have  to  be  confined  to  items 
which  are  easily  distinguishable  and  cover  the  same  article. 
They  dispose  of  the  myth  of  the  high  pay  which  American 
workingmen  receive.  In  most  instances  the  piece  rate  is 
below  the  English;  and  if  American  workingmen  obtain  a 
higher  weekly  rate,  it  is  due  solely  to  their  greater  exertion 
during  each  working  hour  of  the  week,  and  to  their  working 
a  much  greater  number  of  hours  in  the  week  than  their 
English  brothers.  To  this  alone  (the  cheapness  of  American 
labor)  is  due  the  fact  that  we  export  annually  nearly  a  mil- 
lion dollars  worth  of  this  class  of  American  glass  ware. 

But  in  this  industry,  the  same  as  in  the  pottery  industry, 
the  higher  weekly  rates  by  no  means  express  the  earnings 
correctly.  The  time  not  worked  makes  so  serious  an  inroad 
into  the  workingman's  earnings,  that,  on  a  yearly  computa- 
tion, he  is  really  not  so  much  better  off  than  his  brother  in 
England,  with  his  evenly  distributed  work,  as  the  weekly 
comparisons  would  lead  to  believe. 

The  average  earnings  of  glass  blowers  in  Pittsburgh  by  the 
week,  rated  on  the  statement  of  the  president  of  the  Flint 
Glass  Workers'  Association  at  about  $30,  do  in  reality  not 
give  more  than  an  aggregate  of  $900,  or  $18  a  week  the 
year  around.  The  English  glass  blower,  with  his  well  regu- 
lated control  of  the  working  machinery  of  his  trade,  earns 
under  full  employment  54s.  for  18  moves  at  3s.,  or  $13.12. 

If  he  has  24  moves  coming  to  him,  as  happens  under  the 
regulations  of  the  trade  when  work  is  plentiful,  at  3s.,  he 
earns  as  high  as  72s.,  or  $17.28.     The  difference  between 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  201 

actual  and  ideal  earnings  is  quite  a  considerable  one  in  glass 
as  well  as  in  pottery. 

The  materials  which  compose  the  body  of  flint  glass  are : 
Sand,  52  per  cent. ;  potash,  14  per  cent.  ;  and  lead,  33  per 
cent.  Sand  and  potash  are  not  different  in  price  from 
foreign  cost.  But  lead,  dutiable  at  2  cents  a  pound — about 
70  per  cent,  ad  valorem — adds  two-thirds  of  a  cent  to  every 
pound  of  glass  made  beyond  the  foreign  cost,  and  helps  the 
Lead  Trust. 

But  besides  the  low  cost  of  labor,  we  have  advantages  of 
another  nature  in  glass  making.  First,  the  factories  are 
usually  situated  where  land  is  cheap.  Indeed,  the  land 
becomes  valuable  only  through  the  erection  of  the  factory. 
Townships  are  eager,  therefore,  to  obtain  the  location,  and 
grant  valuable  privileges.  This  is  no  slight  advantage  in 
competition  with  old  countries,  where  every  acre  of  land 
bas  at  least  the  tenfold  value  of  similarly  situated  land  in 
America. 

Secondly,  the  fuel  is  cheaper,  even  where  coal  is  used,  as 
in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  West  Virginia  (where  two-thirds 
of  the  capacity  is  situated)  than  in  Europe,  not  excluding 
England,  prominently  in  Belgium  and  France;  but  they 
have  now  the  great  advantage  of  natural  gas.  This  is  a 
twofold  benefit — first,  in  that  it  saves  the  crucible,  which 
lasts  three  times  as  long  as  under  the  use  of  coal ;  second, 
saving  is  effected  in  the  labor,  as  in  a  six-furnace  glass 
factory  in  Pittsburgh,  as  given  me  there,  the  saving  in 
labor  amounts  annually  to  $5,000,  formerly  paid  out  for 
supplying  coal  to  the  furnaces.  Another  considerable  sav- 
ing, although  gas  charges  are  high  and  the  waste  is  very 
great,  is  in  fuel  cost  by  the  introduction  of  gas  in  the 
place  of  coal. 

After  what  has  been  said,  everybody  can  see  that  the  tariff 


202  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGE   WAGES. 

argument  is  here  used  merely  to  throw  dust  into  the  eyes  of 
the  consumer  and  the  workingman.  The  same  wages  could 
be  paid  with  a  fair  profit  to  the  manufacturers  without  any 
tariff.  A  fair  protection  in  an  article  like  glass  ware  to  the 
manufacturer  and  the  work-people  arises  from  the  low  price 
comparative  with  the  nature  and  bulk  of  the  goods.  In 
this  line  of  goods — plain  hollow  ware  of  flint  and  lime  glass 
— the  packing  charges  and  freight  rates  pro  value  are  very 
high.  Much  loss  is  furthermore  suffered  by  the  importers 
by  breakage  in  these  goods  carried  from  so  great  a  distance, 
and  subjected  in  the  reloading  to  a  great  deal  of  handling. 
The  McKinley  Administrative  bill,  by  doing  away  with  the 
former  rebates  on  breakages,  and  by  imposing  duties  upon 
packing  charges,  adds  considerably,  by  this  change,  to  the 
former  rates  of  duties.  What,  then,  is  to  be  said  of  the 
new  tariff,  which,  besides  this  covert  increase  of  tariff  exac- 
tions, enormously  increases  duties  in  an  industry  entirely 
independent,  so  to  speak,  of  European  competition  ?  The 
answer  is  always  the  same,  dropping  an  anchor  to  windward, 
fostering  trusts,  and  thus  enable  them  to  grab  "what  the 
traffic  will  bear  "  when  opportunity  is  favoi-able. 

Cut  Glass,  Decorated,  and  Fancy  Ware. 

In  decorated  and  fancy  glass  ware,  America  has  attained 
an  equal  efficiency.  At  one  of  the  leading  glass  works 
which  I  visited  in  Western  Pennsylvania  they  turn  out, 
among  a  variety  of  other  articles,  a  large  product  in  etched 
globes,  and  I  have  it  from  the  superintendent  himself  that 
he  can  make  them  cheaper  than  any  one  in  Europe,  that  he 
can  sell  them  in  England,  and  does  send  a  good  many  to 
Norway  and  Sweden.  The  superintendent  came  from  one 
of  the  leading  glass  works  in  England.     The  chief  designer 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  203 

and  head  of  the  etching  room  was  a  German,  as,  in  fact, 
nearly  all  the  designers  in  America  are,  there  being  very 
little  native  talent  to  select  from. 

Our  importations  in  cut  glass  amount  to  about  $1,000,000. 
The  goods  are  mostly  of  a  lighter,  fancy  character.  This  is 
work  dependent  much  on  the  taste  of  special  industrial  sec- 
tions, work  in  which  we  have  not  attained  efficiency.  Our 
product  is  mostly  heavy  cnt-glass  ware.  America  has  made 
great  progress  in  this  class  of  goods,  in  which  it  outruns 
Europe.  The  body  of  this  heavy  glass  ware  is  largely  im- 
ported from  Europe,  on  account  of  the  greater  purity  of  the 
foreign  casts,  and  is  then  cut  in  American  works  especially 
devoted  to  the  purpose.  The  work  being  laborious  stands 
to  the  cost  of  the  body  at  least  as  ten  to  one.  Still,  with  all 
the  high  wages  paid  per  diem  to  our  workmen,  the  work  is 
done  as  cheaply  as  in  Europe,  or  at  least  very  much  below 
duty-paid  rate.  Practically,  all  importation  of  this  kind 
of  work  has  ceased  long  ago. 

A  glass  cutter  at  Stourbridge,  England,  gets  about  32.s. 
($7.80)  a  week  of  fifty-eight  hours'  time.  In  Meriden  and 
other  American  glass  works  glass  cutters  earn  from  $14  to 
$21  a  week,  according  to  efficiency.  This  shows  plainly 
that  the  day  rate  does  not,  so  largely  as  the  output,  deter- 
mine the  cost  by  the  piece.  The  higher  character  and  effi- 
ciency of  American  labor  fully  compensate  in  the  larger 
number  of  industries,  especially  where  physical  endurance 
is  of  importance,  for  the  difference  in  day  wages.  The 
pieces  sent  from  America  to  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1889 
always  drew  a  large  circle  of  admirers.  Although  of  high 
cost,  they  were  bought  very  freely  by  people  of  wealth,  who 
had,  in  annexed  exhibits,  the  work  of  all  other  nations  for 
comparison.  This  shows  that  where  we  boldly  strike  out 
on  original  lines,  we  can  easily  become  masters  of  the  situa- 


204  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

tion,  and  hold  our  own  against  all  odds.  The  imitator  and 
copyist  will  always  lag  behind  in  the  race.  Still,  with  all 
this  gratifying  condition  and  virtual  independence  of  our 
industries,  and  the  special  character  of  our  importations,  our 
lawmakers  have  seen  fit  to  advance  duties  in  this  line  also 
from  a  former  45  per  cent,  to  60  per  cent,  when,  so  to  speak, 
protective  duties  had  already  become  obsolete. 

Windo-w  Glass. 

The  rates  on  window  glass  are  specific.  They  were, 
before  the  new  tariff  came  into  force,  over  100  per  cent. 
Certainly  so  excessive  a  rate  of  duty  as  100  per  cent  on 
common  window  glass  is  not  necessary  for  the  protection 
of  labor.  The  window-glass  making  combinations  knew 
before  this  how  to  make  use  of  the  opportunity  given  by 
the  Government  for  enriching  themselves  by  taxing  the 
people  all  they  can  get  out  of  them.  But  still,  in  spite 
of  that,  some  of  the  duties  have  been  raised  even  in  plain 
window  glass.  The  increase  of  duty  affects  a  class  of 
window  glass,  the  ad  valorem  equivalent  of  the  specific  duty 
on  which  amounted  only  to  the  bagatelle  of  132.29  per  ceot 

A  short  review  of  the  situation  will  show  us  how  much 
in  need  of  an  increase  of  protective  duties  these  manufac- 
turers stand. 

They  have  the  same  advantages  related  above — land,  fuel, 
gas.  The  capacity  has  doubled  in  the  last  ten  years  in 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New  Jersey,  and  Indiana.  They  have 
a  very  strong  organization — the  American  Window-Glass 
Manufacturers'  Association — which  regulates  prices  and  the 
output.  They  allow  importations  to  the  extent  of  a  million 
and  a  quarter  dollars,  and  keep  up  the  prices  of  their  own 
goods  to  about  duty-paid  prices  of  foreign  glass  rather  than 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  205 

have  indiscriminate  competition  and  tlie  consequent  forcing 
down  of  prices  and  profits.  Thej  are  helped  in  this  by  the 
workingmen's  association,  which  regulates  and  limits  very 
strictly  the  employment  of  apprentices.  In  an  industry 
which  requires  years  to  learn  and  get  efficient  in,  and  sup- 
ported otherwise  by  the  alien  labor  law,  it  is  practically 
impossible  to  break  down  a  monopoly,  as  unrestricted  com- 
petition undoubtedly  would. 

In  consequence  of  this  closely  managed  organization,  win- 
dow glass  in  America,  with  slight  variations  in  one  kind 
or  another,  stands  on  an  average  at  about  the  same  prices  it 
stood  in  1860.  On  the  other  hand,  foreign  window  glass 
within  the  last  twenty  years  has  fallen  in  price  about  50 
per  cent  This  is  a  fair  example  to  show  how  the  tariff 
reduces  prices,  and  yet  things  are  not  always  serene  between 
workingmen  and  manufacturers.  There  are  disputes  and 
even  strikes.  The  situation  could  not  be  better  expressed 
than  by  quoting  from  a  speech  of  Senator  Plumb: 

"  They  [the  window-glass  manufacturers]  are  in  a  quarrel  about  half 
the  time  out  there,  and  it  seems  to  me,  from  the  investigations  of  the 
quarrels  as  they  appeared  in  the  newspapers,  that  the  manufacturiers 
make  trouble  with  their  employees  in  order  to  have  a  pretext  for  cutting 
down  and  shutting  up,  and  they  take  only  such  portions  of  the  market 
as  they  can  make  the  best  profit  out  of.  It  is  certainly  thoroughly  well 
understood.  I  do  not  think  that  it  can  be  successf  ally  disputed  that,  not- 
withstanding their  plants  have  been  enormously  increased  in  value,  they 
have  made  very  large  profits.  They  have  made  such  large  profits  that 
they  have  become  the  objective  of  the  English  syndicate,  which  has  been 
seeking  to  buy  them  up,  I  understand  ;  at  any  rate,  one  of  their  repre- 
sentatives has  so  stated  that  the  profits  have  been  as  high  as  130  per  cent., 
and  they  have  never  been  lower  than  30 per  cent,  or  40  per  cent." 

Plate  Glass. 

Such  are  the  results  of  legislation  in  favor  of  trusts  and 
combinations.     They  show  more  tellingly  yet,  however,  in 


206  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

this  line  of  goods,  how  easy  it  is,  under  the  aegis  of  these 
pernicious  laws,  to  roll  up  immense  fortunes  within  a  few 
years,  and  at  the  same  time  keep  labor  down  to  the  grind- 
stone. The  increase  in  the  consumption  of  plate  glass  of 
late  years  has  been  very  heavy.  The  production  in  1880 
measuring  1,700,000  square  feet,  of  which  1,042,000  square 
feet  was  polished  and  377,287  feet  sold  rough,  has  risen  to 
a  capacity  of  8,000,000  square  feet.  Three  new  works  in 
process  of  erection  in  Pennsylvania  will  raise  this  soon  to 
10,000,000  square  feet.  With  the  advantages  stated  above, 
the  profits  present  an  equally  dazzling  spectacle.  No  plates 
are  cast  smaller  than  24  by  60  inches.  Smaller  sizes  are  cut 
from  plates  that  have  been  broken  or  are  otherwise  defective. 
On  plate  glass  above  24  by  60  the  duty  is  50  cents  per  square 
foot,  an  ad  valorem  rate  of  141.43  per  cent.;  and  on  24  by  30 
to  24  by  60  the  duty  is  25  cents,  equal  to  72.49  per  cent,  ad 
valorem  on  the  importation  lists  of  the  custom  house.  But 
as  the  sizes  above  24  by  60  chiefly  concern  our  manufactur- 
ers, it  is  easy  to  see  what  an  advantage  they  have  in  hand, 
and  how  deeply  they  must  feel  in  the  perpetuation  of  the 
paternal  principle  in  government. 

The  dividends  of  the  Pittsburgh  Plate  Glass  Co.,  with 
works  at  Creighton,  Tarentum,  and  Ford  City,  Pa.,  were 
31  per  cent  last  year.  The  workmen  fare  not  quite  so  well 
in  the  division  of  the  spoils.  In  no  other  occupation  requir- 
ing equal  skill,  and  equally  exhaustive,  are  wages  so  low.  In 
the  casting  hall,  wages  are  from  $2  to  $3  a  da}',  the  latter 
for  the  master  teaser;  in  the  grinding  room,  from  $1.50  to 
$3;  in  the  polishing  room,  from  $1.80  to  $2.75 ;  and  in  the 
cutting  room,  from  $1.50  to  $2.50  ;  in  all  averaging,  perhaps, 
$2,  as  the  lower  rate  always  means  the  most  numerous  class 
of  workmen.  Indeed,  the  census  of  1880  shows  an  outlay 
of  $292,253  for  wages  in  the  plate-glass  industry,  divided 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES,  207 

among  822  men,  91  women,  and  43  children.  Counting 
women  and  "children"  at  half  the  rate  of  men,  we  get  889 
men,  which  gives  a  grand  yearly  earning  to  each  adult  work- 
ingman  of  $328.     "  Tant  de  bruit  pour  une  omelette.''^ 

But  the  "  workingman  "  will  continue  to  send  committees 
to  Washington,  and  prove  to  a  nicety  to  the  lawmakers  in 
the  House  and  the  Senate  that  a  great  industry  would  per- 
ish if  anything  were  taken  off  the  existing  duty,  or  if  the 
increase  demanded  b}'  his  employer  were  not  granted.  These 
poor  people  do  not  see  that  by  their  action  they  most  effect- 
ively help  to  build  up  the  immense  capital  power  which  in 
the  end  will  crush  them  into  slavish  submission. 

On  polished  cylinder  glass,  or  German  looking-glass  plates, 
the  duty  has  been  raised  10  per  cent,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  none  is  manufactured  here,  and  against  the  earnest  pro- 
test of  furniture  manufacturers,  who  for  that  reason  wanted 
it  put  on  the  free  list.  The  high  duty  on  this  article  is  a 
bar  to  the  extension  of  our  export  trade  in  furniture  where 
this  kind  of  glass  forms  a  very  important  item.  But  it  so 
happens  that  glass  knows  how  to  make  its  power  felt,  and 
furniture  had  no  influence  in  court.  Furniture  and  the 
innumerable  other  industries  similarly  placed,  as  well  as  the 
consumer,  ought  to  have  remembered  that  nothing  different 
could  be  expected  from  the  Congress  and  the  party  which 
they  elected  and  put  into  power  in  the  memorable  election 
of  1888. 


CHAPTER   IIL 

The  Insincerity  of  the  Claim  for  Protection  of  Labor. — Demonstrated  by 
a  Comparison  of  the  Cost  of  Iron  Mining  here  and  abroad. — Pig- 
iron  and  Steel  RaUs. — Large  Profits  secured  to  the  Steel  Rail  Mak- 
ers.— The  Men  on  Strike  to  resist  Wage  Reductions. 

The  insincerity  of  the  claim,  that  protective  duties  are 
required  for  the  sake  of  the  laborer,  cannot  be  better  demon- 
strated than  by  a  thorough  discussion  of  the  facts  of  our 
mining  and  iron-making  industries.  Nowhere  has  the  gen- 
eral ignorance  of  the  corresponding  facts  of  foreign  cost  been 
exploited  to  such  a  degree  as  in  these  branches.  Nowhere 
has  the  difference  in  the  day  rates  of  wages  been  used  so 
tellingly  to  advance  the  selfish  interests  engaged,  and  nowhere 
more  injuriously  than  against  those  who  use  the  products 
of  the  mines,  furnaces,  or  steel  works  as  raw  materials. 

It  is  not  a  little  astonishing  that  on  a  question  of  constant 
public  discussion  during  the  lifetime  of  this  generation  so 
little  should  have  been  done  to  gather  the  facts  of  cost  of 
production  and  rate  of  output  per  man,  employed  in  com- 
peting countries.  The  industries  here  concerned  are  the 
industries  upon  which  the  industrial  life  of  the  nation  is 
founded.  The  whole  structure  of  modern  society  rests  upon 
them.  Take  coal  and  iron  from  the  support,  and  the  whole 
structure  falls  into  ruins.  The  cheap  and  unhindered  sup- 
ply of  coal  and  iron  is  the  first  essential  of  life  of  industrial 
States.  To  make  a  country,  or  sections  of  a  country,  tribu- 
tary to  the  rapacity  of  other  sections,  in  such  vital  materials, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


209 


out  of  political  considerations,  is  nothing  short  of  a  crime. 
It  could  find  extenuation  and  apology  only  in  the  general 
belief,  that  legal  restrictions  were  required  to  protect  Ameri- 
can labor  against  the  underpaid  labor  of  European  mining 
countries.  This  belief  had  nothing  to  rest  upon,  except  what 
was  known  as  the  rate  of  wages  paid  by  the  day.  How  mis- 
leading this  is  will  be  seen  from  the  sequel. 

It  was  one  of  my  first  endeavors,  after  entering  on  my 
mission  of  inquiry,  to  examine  into  the  comparatives  men- 
tioned above.  The  results  were  given  in  a  report  to  the 
State  Department  (No.  64  Consular  Eeports)  of  June,  1886, 
of  which  the  following  statement  represents  the  chief  items: 

COAL  MINING. 


Country. 


United    States,    1880,    bitumi 
nous  (census  report) , 

Pennsylvania,    1880  (represent 
ing  one-half  product  of  U.  S.) 

North       Staffordshire,      Great 
Britain,  1884 

Prussia,    Saarbruck    Collieries, 
(Government)  

Dortmund  Collieries  (private) . . 


Gross  Tons 
Mined  per 
Head 


377 
560 
322 

256i^ 

281 


Cost   of    Labor 
per  Ton . . . 


Cents. 
86i 

66 

79 

89 
79 


Annual  Wages 
Earned  per 
Head 


$326.00 

337.00 

253.00 

225.12 
222.00 


The  tons  are  all  reduced  to  the  gross  ton  of  2,240  pounds. 
The  census  average  cost  per  ton  is  higher  than  the  labor 
cost  at  our  great  bituminous  fields,  chiefly  in  Pennsylvania, 
which  here,  for  our  consideration,  stands  as  the  chief  factor. 
The  coal  of  the  Western  States  is  mined  at  a  higher  cost. 
But  this  coal  could  not  possibly  be  interfered  with  by  foreign 
coal.  As  has  been  seen  in  one  of  the  previous  chapters, 
U 


210  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

even  that  coal  is  not  mined  at  a  much  higher  labor  cost  than 
the  raining  cost  in  Europe,  as  seen  from  the  above. 

The  American  average  cost  per  ton  is  but  little  different 
from  that  of  North  Staffordshire,  England,  taken  from  actual 
working  accounts  of  collieries  by  myself.  It  is  lower  than  in 
Prussia  in  the  Government's  mines,  and  by  a  few  cents  above 
the  labor  cost  of  the  principal  Westphalian  mines.  The 
greater  output  per  miner  alone  explains  the  high  earnings 
of  Great  Britain  over  Prussia,  and  of  America  over  both. 
The  average  for  Pennsylvania,  from  where  all  the  clamor  for 
protection  comes,  is  away  below  all  other  countries  of  the 
world.  The  total  labor  cost  per  ton  of  an  output  of  no  less 
than  32^  million  gross  tons  is  66  cents  (60  cents  the  ton  of 
2,000  pounds).  To  protect,  then,  ^^  cents'  worth  of  labor,  a 
tariff  of  75  cents  is  imposed.  The  grim  irony  of  facts. 
Every  four  years  a  fierce  battle  is  waged,  and  half  the  nation, 
to  say  the  least,  made  to  tremble  at  the  fearful  consequences 
if,  by  their  neglect  to  vote  in  the  right  way,  this  wholly 
imaginary  safeguard  of  their  prosperity  should  be  removed. 
The  travesty  could  not  be  more  complete. 

With  all  the  details  of  the  case  added,  it  will  be  s.een  not 
only  is  the  English  mining  cost  higher  to  the  mine  owner, 
but  the  miner  himself  receives  more  pay  by  the  ton,  as 
indicated,  than  the  miner  in  America.  The  English 
miner  receives  pay  for  the  slag,  which  the  Pennsylvania 
miner  does  not  get,  but  the  colliery  owner  takes  as  a 
profit.  The  total  mining  cost  in  the  Staffordshire  potteries, 
including  materials  and  expenses,  and  exclusive  of  royalty 
(amounting  from  18  to  24  cents),  was  between  $1.09  and 
$1.42  in  1885  (a  year  of  depression  and  low  prices). 
The  total  cost  in  Pennsylvania  for  the  product  of  1890  (the 
census  year)  was  85^  cents.  With  the  royalties  added,  coal 
costs  the  mine  operator  nearly  double  what  it  costs  to  the 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  211 

mine  operator  in  Pennsylvania.  la  the  Clearfield  region 
the  mining  cost,  formerly  52  cents,  has  been  reduced  by  one- 
fourth  by  the  introduction  of  machinery  since  1886.*  At 
Connellsville  coal  is  mined  at  considerably  less  cost  than  in 
both  these  regions.  The  mines  are  deeper  (about  8  feet 
deep).  The  miners  are  paid  on  a  sliding  scale,  according  to 
the  selling  price  of  coke.  At  the  time  of  my  inquiry  coke 
was  selling  at  $1.85  (in  1883  it  had  been  selling  as  low  as 
90  cents).  The  labor  for  mining  100  bushels  was  90  cents 
to  $1.10  then  (1887),  and  twenty-seven  bushels  to  the  ton, 
equal  to  about  25  to  30  cents  a  ton,  or  the  long  ton  27  to  33 
cents.  In  Durham,  the  coking  coal  district  of  England,  the 
labor  cost  of  mining  and  putting  into  trucks  a  ton  of  coal 
was  51  cents  at  the  time  of  great  depression  in  the  iron  and 
coal  industry  in  England. 

*  While  the  cost  has  been  reduced  since  1880,  the  earnings  have  risen 
in  obedience  to  the  principle  formulated  in  Part  I.  Chapter  II.  The  cost 
per  mined  ton  in  1880  was  $1,022  against  85^  cents  in  1890.  The  output 
per  head,  504  tons  gross,  in  1880,  rose  to  617  tons  (685  short  tons)  in 
1890.  The  earnings,  $337  for  the  year  1880,  were  $391  in  the  latter  year, 
a  most  forcible  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  reduced  cost,  increased 
output,  and  higher  earnings  go  hand  in  hand.  The  earnings  of  miners 
would  be  much  higher  in  Pennsylvania  but  for  the  existence  of  the  per- 
nicious truck  system.  To  this  is  due  the  practice  of  drawing  a  great 
many  more  miners  to  the  mining  settlements  than  would  be  needed  under 
full  employment.  The  truck  stores  are  owned  directly,  or  indirectly 
through  some  relative,  by  the  superintendent  or  the  owner  of  the  mine. 
He  naturally  finds  it  to  his  interest  to  have  the  men  al  ways  dependent  on 
his  truck  store,  always  under  advances,  and  seldom  with  cash  in  hand, 
■which  can  only  be  done  by  having  a  surplus  of  labor  about  and  the  earn- 
ings at  a  minimum.  This  accounts  for  the  short  time  worked  by  the 
Pennsylvania  miner,  which  is  not  more  than  three-quarter  time  in  the 
bituminous  and  not  quite  two-third  time  in  anthracite  coal.  In  the  latter 
branch  the  evil  effects  on  wages  show  themselves  far  more  gravely  on  that 
account. 

The  English  miner  with  full  employment  and  the  truck  system  entirely 
stamped  out  is  thCTefore  better  off  than  his  American  competitor. 


212  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

America's  and  England's  Position. 

The  advantages  of  cost  difference  in  coal  are  clearly  on 
the  side  of  America.  In  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  coal, 
the  Pittsburgh  fields  and  the  Staffordshire  and  Lancashire 
fields  for  ordinary  soft  coal,  Connellsville  in  America  and 
Durham  in  England  for  coking  coal,  would  stand  on  a  fair 
basis  for  comparison.  What  operates  against  the  British 
coal  owner  the  heaviest,  are  the  royalties  which  he  has  to 
pay  to  the  owner  of  the  soil. 

In  America,  where  mining  lands  are  owned  by  the  rain- 
ing companies  mostly,  royalties  are  charged  only  in  cases 
where  the  mines  are  leased.  In  Prussia  no  royalties  are 
paid,  or  are  at  most  only  nominal.  It  is  necessary  to  call 
special  attention  to  this  fact.  In  England,  as  well  as  here, 
great  stress  is  laid  by  protectionists  on  the  higher  wage  rate. 
Though  the  causes  be  different,  it  can  invariably  be  shown 
that  if  the  cost  of  production  is  a  higher  one,  it  is  due  to 
other  causes  than  the  labor  cost  The  royalties  in  the 
materials  contained  in  one  ton  of  pig  iron  in  England  run 
from  91  cents  to  $1.58.  The  cost  of  labor  in  these  mate- 
rials, roundly  speaking,  two  tons  of  coal  and  two  tons  of 
ore,  amounts  to  $4.46.  This  gives  the  Prussian  ironmaker 
a  premium  of  nearly  25  per  cent,  against  England,  which, 
if  there  were  anything  in  the  plea  of  higher  labor  cost  on 
account  of  higher  earnings  per  diem,  would  surely  enable 
the  Prussian  ironmaker  to  flood  England  with  cheap  iron, 
especially  as  freights  are  in  his  favor.  English  railroads 
are  corporate  concerns,  which  "  charge  what  the  traffic  is 
worth."  Each  line  is  independent  by  agreement  with  the 
other  roads,  and  controls  its  own  field.  Inland  charges  are 
higher  than  transit  charges  for  foreign  shipment  or  from 
foreign  ports  to  inland  places.     In  Germany,  the  state  own- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  213 

ing  the  roads,  much  care  is  taken  to  foster  commerce  bj 
low  charges.  All  the  southern  ports  of  England  can  be 
supplied  with  iron  from  Prussia  at  lower  transportation 
rates  than  from  North  of  England  furnaces.  Yet  but  little 
of  that  takes  place,  although  England  has  no  duties  to 
protect  any  of  its  industries. 

From  what  has  been  said  above,  it  is  clear  that  what  price 
dijfferences  do  exist  are  due  to  extra  capital  charges  and 
privileges  enjoyed  by  the  landed  classes  and  railroad  cor- 
porations, and  not  the  higher  pay  of  labor.  Privileged 
classes  always  attend  to  covering  themselves  from  the 
searching  eye  of  public  inquiry,  by  making  their  victims 
believe  that  it  is  to  their  benefit  that  obsolete  conditions 
continue.  The  names  are  different ;  the  game  is  the  same. 
In  America,  away  from  the  mines,  coal  is  high  because  the 
outlet  from  the  coal-mining  district  is  controlled  by  trans- 
portation companies.  They  either  charge  extravagant  rates, 
making  the  development  of  the  whole  section  impossible, 
or  giving  otherwise  cheaply-mined  coal  an  inflated  price ; 
or  they  own  the  coal  fields  themselves,  as  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields,  and  put  a  price  of  transportation  on  the  coal  to 
pay  dividends  on  enormously  watered  stock.  It  is  only 
competition  between  the  lines  which  reduces  the  price  of 
coal  at  terminal  points. 

Iron  Ore. 

The  same  argument  applies  to  iron  mining.  The  cost  of 
mining,  the  labor  cost,  does  not  differ  much  in  America, 
England,  and  Prussia,  The  cost  of  mining  ore  in  the  rich 
ore  fields  from  Virginia  down  to  Alabama  and  in  Pennsyl- 
vania is  as  low  as  in  Europe,  if  not  lower.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  Lake  Superior  region.     The  only  differences 


214  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

that  do  exist  are  again  in  transportation  charges.  Iron,  in 
an  industrial  sense,  is  a  rather  varying  quantity.  The  ores 
of  different  sections  possess  different  qualities,  and  for 
different  purposes  different  iron  is  required.  For  this 
reason,  with  all  our  great  production  of  iron,  we  cannot  do 
without  some  special  qualities  of  foreign  iron.  Steel  is  now 
largely  taking  the  place  of  puddled  iron.  The  Bessemer 
process  of  steel  making  is  principally  employed  in  America. 
For  this  process  few  of  our  ores,  except  from  Lake  Supe- 
rior, have  so  far  been  available.  Large  quantities  are  im- 
ported annually  from  Spain,  North  Africa,  and  Cuba— last 
year  646,000  tons  at  an  average  value  of  $2.25.  To  this 
has  to  be  added  the  cost  of  transportation  from  these 
countries.  In  times  of  great  demand  ocean  freights  are 
high,  at  periods  of  depression  correspondingly  low ;  5s. 
expressing  about  the  one,  and  10s.  the  other  extreme  of 
protection  to  the  poor  mine  owners  on  Lake  Superior  by 
ocean  transportation.  But  an  additional  cost  of  75  cents 
per  ton  from  tide  water  to  the  works  in  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania must  be  reckoned,  when  ore  is  turned  into  iron  and 
steel,  which  compete  in  the  east  with  iron  made  of  Lake 
Superior  ore.  These  high  transportation  expenses  explain 
the  difference  in  the  cost  of  iron  making  of  a  higher  grade. 
In  parts  of  the  country  where  the  iron  is  situated  near 
the  coal  fields,  we  can  produce  iron  as  cheaply  as  any 
country.  That  class  of  iron,  however,  cannot  be  used  for 
Bessemer  steel,  though  it  is  an  excellent  iron  to  use  for  the 
basic  open-hearth  process.  Now,  in  spite  of  the  high  cost 
of  imported  ore,  the  mine  owners  exact  a  duty  of  75  cents 
on  each  ton  brought  into  this  country,  for  the  protection 
of  labor.  A  ton  of  Bessemer  ore  without  a  duty  on  can- 
not be  landed  at  tide  water,  freight  paid,  at  less  than  $3.50 
and  up  to  $5.     If  carried  only  80  miles  inland,  it  haa  an 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  215 

additional  75  cents  to  pay.  Its  being  carried  to  Pittsburgh 
is  an  impossibility.  The  Lake  Superior  ore  owners  have, 
therefore,  a  clear  field  for  the  whole  country  west  of  100 
miles  from  tide  water,  and  still,  with  a  mining  cost  for 
wages  of  not  more  than  $1.40  a  ton,  as  the  average  for  the 
Lake  Superior  ores  of  Michigan,  census  of  1880,  and  $1,19 
in  the  census  year  of  1890  * — in  Pennsylvania  the  softer 
ores  of  the  Cornwall  hills  are  mined  as  low  as  20  cents  a 
ton  in  labor  expense — they  have  the  audacity  of  claiming 
75  cents  duty  on  imported  ores  for  protection  of  American 
labor,  as  they  say.  As  it  is,  the  55  per  cent,  ore  cost  from 
$4.50  to  $5.50  a  ton  in  the  eastern  district  for  Bessemer 
steel  making,  changing  according  to  freight  rates,  etc. 

Coke  and  Pig-iron. 

Coal  being  cheaper  in  the  United  States,  the  cost  of  coke 
follows  in  the  same  wake.  Coke  in  Connellsville  varies,  put 
on  board  cars,  from  90  cents  a  ton  to  $1.75.  The  basis  of 
price  on  which  the  sliding  scale  of  wages  rests  is  $1.35. 
The  cost  of  production  is  $1.17  on  the  statement  of  the 
masters,  and  on  the  men's  basis,  99  cents,  according  to  Mr. 
Joseph  Weeks.  Accepting  the  former  calculation,  which 
includes  all  additionals,  this  is  $1.30  the  gross  ton. 

*  Here,  also,  we  observe  the  same  tendencies  as  pointed  out  in  coal 
mining,  reduced  cost  per  ton  and  increased  product  per  head,  and  higher 
annual  earnings.  Michigan  furnishes  now  nearly  one-half  of  all  the  iron 
ores  of  the  United  States,  to  wit  :  5,856,000  tons  out  of  a  total  of  14,- 
518,000  tons;  and  what  is  said  of  Michigan  herein  this  connection,  applies 
to  other  mining  districts  so  far  as  comparisons  can  be  traced. 

1880.  1890. 

Labor  per  ton $1.40  $1.19 

Mined  per  head,  tons 295  450 

Annual  earnings $413  $535 


216  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

In  Durham  I  found  the  net  cost,  barely  covering  ex- 
penses, to  be  76'.  6d,  and  the  price  put  on  board  cars  8s.,  or 
$1.95. 

This  was  at  a  time  of  very  severe  trade  depression.  Since 
then  the  price  has  made  the  most  remarkable  gyrations  up 
to  325.,  or  $7.78,  and  commands  now  in  the  neighborhood  of 
125.  a  ton. 

Laid  down  at  Middlesborough,  the  iron-making  district 
nearest  Durham,  an  additional  25.  6d  (60  cents)  for  carriage 
has  to  be  added,  which  would  more  than  equalize  the 
freightage  from  Connellsville  to  Pittsburgh. 

This,  then,  exhausts  the  subdivisions  contributing  to  pig- 
iron  making.  All  these  positions  are  lower  than  in  Eng- 
land. The  labor  at  the  furnace,  however,  aggregates  more 
in  Pennsylvania.  Most  of  it  is  rough  labor,  wheelbarrow- 
ing,  and  yard  work.  The  rate  of  day  wages  would  not  so 
much  affect  the  cost  per  ton,  though  about  40  per  cent,  above 
English  rates  ($1.58  in  Pittsburgh,  $1.25  at  Bethlehem,  Pa., 
against  87  cents  in  Staffordshire),  but  that  there  is  a  great 
deal  more  labor  connected  with  furnace  work  in  the  North- 
ern States.  In  England  the  Bessemer  furnaces,  at  least,  are 
so  situated  that  the  ocean  steamer  carrying  the  ore  can  be 
run  almost  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  furnace.  It  is 
loaded  on  trucks  and  run  on  rails  close  to  the  furnace.  In 
Middlesborough  the  mines  are  situated  equally  fortunately. 
In  America,  where  the  mines  are  separated,  and  either  ocean 
or  lake  navigation  has  to  bring  the  ore  and  coal  to  the 
furnace,  storing  of  the  ore  and  consequently  a  great  deal  of 
extra  hauling  are  required.  But  still,  with  all  these  draw- 
backs, I  did  not  find  the  actual  labor  cost  in  a  ton  of 
Bessemer  pig-iron  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  to  exceed  the 
English  costs  by  more  than  50  cents. 

The  comparative  cost  of  labor  of  making  a  ton  of  Besse- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  217 

mer   pig-iron,   including   the   ore,   the  coal,  and  the  coke, 
stands  as  follows,  from  actual  working  accounts : 

Middlesborough,  England.  Pittsburgh,  America. 

2  tons  of  50^  ore,  @  $1,46. .  .$3.92        If  tons  Lake  Superior  60^ 

ore,  @$1.19 $1.99 

1 J  tons  of  coal,  @  51  cents. . .       89        1^  tons  Connellsville,  @83  cts.      50 

iV  ton  Pittsburgh,  @  79  cents.      08 

1  ton  of  coking,  including  in-  1  ton  coking 45 

cidentals 48 

t  ton  of  limestone,  @  50  cents      20        Limestone 25 

Furnace  labor 79        Furnace  labor 1.58 

$5.28  $4.85 

The  total  labor  cost  is  therefore  less  by  43  cents  in  a  ton 
of  pig-iron  in  America  than  in  much-decried  England  and 
the  Continent  with  their  "  pauper  labor." 

The  cost  of  production,  inclusive  of  extra  charges  to 
cover  the  economic  quantity  of  natural  disadvantage  of 
distance  from  the  ore,  as  in  Bessemer  iron,  compared  in  1887 
for  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  was  about  $7  above  the  English  price 
of  1888,  though  the  total  of  labor  did  not  foot  up  very 
differently.  The  causes  of  this  have  been  explained  as 
partially  legitimate  extra  transportation  charges,  and  partly 
due  to  inflation,  caused  by  the  boom  in  iron  and  steel  dur- 
ing 1887  in  America,  and  great  depression  in  prices  in  Eng- 
land. At  present  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  production 
has  nearly  disappeared.  The  cost  of  coal  and  ore  has 
become  diminished  in  America,  and  coal  and  coke  have 
advanced  in  England.  The  selling  price  of  Bessemer  iron 
is  now  $14,  while  in  England  it  is  now  48s.,  or  $11.65.  Under 
free  trade  the  difference  would  be  wiped  out  by  freight  and 
other  charges.  The  development  of  the  iron  industry 
within  recent  years  has  been  of  such  a  nature  that  the  vastly 
increased  means  of  production  and  the  improvements  intro- 


218  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

duced  will  make  this  lower  cost  of  production  permanent 
The  high  duties,  however,  do  the  useful  service  of  enabling 
the  producer  to  make  the  large  extra  profit  between  the  full 
duty  charge  and  his  low  cost,  whenever  opportunity  favors 
him. 

Steel  Bail  Making. 

Cheap  iron  makes  cheap  rails.  The  cost  in  the  rail  mill 
is  a  very  small  item  now  under  conditions  demonstrated 
in  Part  L  Chapter  VIII 

At  the  time  of  my  inquiry,  trade  and  prices  in  rails  being 
at  their  highest  since  1881,  as  noted  above,  and  English 
trade  and  prices  at  their  lowest,  I  found  the  labor  cost  in 
England  and  America  to  be  about  the  same.  But  wages 
have  been  raised  twice  in  that  year,  10  per  cent,  each  time,  in 
America,  while  in  England  they  were  at  their  lowest.  At 
the  present  time  the  labor  is  lower  in  America  by  nearly  20 
per  cent.  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  rail  which  costs  at  Darlington,  in 
one  of  the  best  English  mills,  3.07  cents  in  labor,  is  turned 
out  at  about  $2.50  from  one  of  our  well-equipped  rail  mills. 

The  difference  in  1888  stood  as  per  my  report  to  the  State 
Department  as  follows : 

COST  OP  PRODUCTION  OF  ONE  TON  OF  BESSEMER  RAILS. 

England.  Eastern  Pennsylvania. 

l-i\  tons  pig-iron,  @  $10.93. |12.03    1  ton  pig-iron $18.00 

li  cwt.  spiegeleisen,  @  97c. .     1.44  3  cwt.  spiegeleisen . . .     4.00 

14  cwt.  coal,  @  $1.85 1.26    Fuel 2.00 

Labor 3.07     Labor 3.04 

$17.80  $27.04 

To-day,  taking  iron  at  the  market  price,  though  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  rail  mills  make  their  own  iron 
(and,  therefore,  an  additional  profit),  the  cost  comparison 
stands  as  follows : 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  219 

COST  COMPARISON  ON  PRESENT  BASIS  OF  IRON. 

England.  America. 

liVtons  pig-iron,  @  $11.65. $12.81  1  ton $14.00 

11  cwt.  spiegeleisen 1.44  3  cwt.  spiegeleisen. . .     4.00 

Fuel 1.4")  Fuel 2.00 

Labor 3.07  Labor $3.50  to    3.00 


$18.77  $23.00* 

To  sum  up,  I  subjoin  in  parallel  columns  : 

COST  OF  LABOR  CONTAINED  IN  A  TON  OP  BESSEMER  STEEL 
RAILS  AND  THE  MATERIALS  ENTERING  INTO  IT. 

In  England.  In  America. 

Pig-iron  per  ton $0.73  to  $0.97    Eastern  Pennsylvania $1.25 

Bessemer  rails 3.07  "                "           $3.50  to  3.04 

Coal  mining,  Stafford-  Average  "  0.66 

shire 0.79  Pittsburgh 0.79 

Coal  mining,  Durham  0.51  Clearfield 0.50 

Coking,  Durham  ...  0.24  Connellsville 0.33 

Ore  mining,  Stafford-  "  0.32 

shire, 50  per  ct.  ore.  1.46  Lake  Superior,  55  to 65  per  ct.  1.19 
Ore    mining,    Cleve- 
land, 33  per  ct.  ore.  0.30  Cornwall  ore,  Pennsyl\rania. .  0.19 

The  difference  in  tbe  cost  of  a  ton  of  Bessemer  rails  is  $4 ; 
the  difference  in  the  selling  price,  however,  is  $10 ;  the 
price  of  rails  in  America  being  $30,  and  in  England  £4  2s., 
or  $20.  A  profit  of  $7  and  above  is  realized  by  the  Ameri- 
can steel-rail  maker  at  a  time  when  the  English  maker  has 
to  be  satisfied  with  $1.  Under  the  present  prices  in  iron  and 
steel  the  steel-rail  combination  secures  a  profit  of  three  times 

*  On  the  basis  employed  in  the  English  mills,  l^g  tons  of  iron  and  1| 
cwt.  of  spiegeleisen  and  labor  taken  at  full  rate  of  $3  a  ton,  the  cost 
stands  :  Iron,  $15.40  ;  spiegeleisen,  $2  ;  fuel,  $3  ;  labor,  $2.50  ;  total, 
$22.40.  The  additional  weight  of  iron  going  into  the  furnace  covers  rail- 
ends  and  scraps.  They  have  a  value,  however,  and  cover  the  additional 
expense,  or  whatever  extra  charge  there  may  be. 


220  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

the  amount  paid  to  all  the  labor  employed.  A  steel  mill 
employing  1,048  men  and  turning  out  4,500  tons  a  week, 
and  having  a  pay  roll  of  $13,680  (as  taken  from  the  amounts 
kindly  given  to  me  by  a  rail  mill  in  1888),  would  in  a  year 
produce  225,000  tons  and  pay  out  $684,000  in  wages,  but 
make  a  profit,  on  present  computation,  of  fully  $1,680,000. 
But  with  all  this  enormous  profit  guaranteed  by  act  of  legis- 
lation, at  the  present  rates  the  outlay  for  wages  would  now 
not  be  more  than  about  $575,000  (about  $2.50  a  ton). 

This,  however,  by  no  means  exhausts  the  golden  effects  of 
protection  to  the  protected  enterprise.  The  usefulness  of 
the  tariff  was  seen  again,  after  the  golden  shower  of  1880,  in 
its  fullness  in  the  time  of  brisk  demand  in  1887.  The  sell- 
ing price  of  rails  had  fallen  in  1886  to  $28,  but  the  demand 
springing  up  in  1887  raised  the  price  to  $40,  and  it  averaged 
for  the  year  $35.  To  a  single  concern  turning  out  500,000  tons 
a  year,  this  extra  profit  guaranteed  by  the  tariff  is  equal  to  a 
bonus  of  from  $2,500,000  to  $3,000,000  above  the  ordinary 
profits  at  the  $30  price.  Should  the  benevolent  and  patri- 
otic mill  owner  not  urge  the  maintenance  of  this  blessing 
to  the  American  workman — urge  it  with  intense  eloquence 
and  energetic  zeal  ? 

The  combination  of  rail  mills  has  it  in  hand  to  raise  the 
price  at  will  to  any  height  within  the  tariff  limit.  While  in 
slack  times  the  prices  are,  as  now,  below  the  foreign  duty 
paid  price,  the  full  price  is  always  sure  to  follow  in  the 
wake  of  an  increasing  demand.  Combinations  and  trusts  are 
the  logical  consequences  of  protective  legislation. 

The  laborer's  share  in  the  value  of  the  product,  as  has 
been  shown  by  an  abundance  of  proof,  is  less  in  the  United 
States  than  in  England  and  on  the  Continent. 

If  there  are  any  advantages  derived  from  protective  tariffs, 
the  laborers  engaged  in  mining,  coke-burning,  iron  and  steel 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  221 

making  certainly  do  not  receive  a  particle  out  of  the  fund 
contributed  by  the  nation,  in  the  erroneous  belief  that  it  is 
required  for  the  laborer's  protection  against  the  "pauper- 
ized "  European  labor. 

The  two  million  odd  tons  of  rails  annually  manufactured 
give  the  combination  of  manufacturers  a  profit  of  $15,000,- 
000,  three  times  the  wages  paid  to  the  ten  thousand  men 
engaged  in  turning  them  out.  "Cultivated  fruit  is  not  for 
the  peasant  to  eat,"  said  the  Polish  nobleman  in  uprooting 
the  trees.*  The  present  strikes  against  wage  reductions  in 
the  steel  mills  show  very  plainly  the  meaning  of  a  protective 
tarifi  to  the  workingman. 

*  See  page  117. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Injury  of  Protection  to  Industry. — The  Advantages  America  reaps 
from  Superior  Methods  and  Low  Labor  Cost  frustrated  by  Protec- 
tion.—Comparisons  which  are  beyond  Controversion. — Fighting  over 
the  Shell  long  after  the  Substance  is  gone. 

In  no  other  brancli  of  industry  is  the  effect  of  high  wages 
in  reducing  cost  of  production  shown  so  plainly  as  in  all 
forms  of  finished  iron  and  steel.  The  genius  of  the  nation 
shows  here  to  the  best  advantage.  Labor  saving  by  invention 
is  enhanced  by  the  best  constituted  help  of  all  times  and  coun- 
tries congregating  under  our  factory  and  workshop  roofs. 
The  earnings  are  higher,  the  labor  results  cheaper  than  in 
other  industrial  pursuits,  generally  speaking. 

But  in  no  other  industrial  line  has  tariff  protection  be- 
come so  plainly  tariff  oppression  as  in  manufactures  of 
metals  in  the  finished  form. 

If,  as  a  measure  of  protection  to  labor,  the  tariff  has  grown 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  cost  of  production  in  all  forms 
of  crude  iron  and  steel,  which,  barring  the  additional  trans- 
portation charges  on  account  of  geographical  disadvantages, 
can  be  produced  cheaper  than  in  Europe,  its  application  to 
finished  forms  becomes  decidedly  a  most  harmful  hindrance 
to  full  industrial  development. 

It  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  forcible  objections  raised 
against  the  protective  system,  that  it  is  unjust  to  the  con- 
sumer to  make  him  pay  a  high  bounty  to  the  American 
producer,  so  as  to  balance  the  favor  nature  dispensed  to  his 
foreign  competitor  and  withheld  from  him.     Yet,  severely 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  223 

as  it  bears  on  the  consumer,  the  system  is  not  less  burden- 
some to  the  American  producer,  to  whom,  in  one  form  or 
another,  these  crude  and  unfinished  forms  of  iron  and  steel 
serve  as  material  for  remanufacture. 

If  it  is  just  to  put  a  duty  on  iron  ore  and  on  pig-iron 
because  of  the  differences  in  the  cost  at  which  Lake  Superior 
ore  can  be  placed  at  Pittsburgh,  and  the  price  at  which 
foreign  ore  and  foreign  iron  can  be  landed  at  Eastern  ports, 
it  is  certainly  a  very  unjust  proceeding  against  the  East- 
ern manufacturer.  It,  virtually,  is  a  prohibition  against 
manufacturing  crude  forms  of  iron  in  the  Eastern  States,  and 
makes  them  tributary  dependencies  of  the  Pennsylvania 
iron  lords.  A  tariff  on  these  crude  bulky  materials — coal 
included — is  tantamount  to  a  confiscation  of  the  natural 
advantages  of  situation.  But  this  is  practically  the  purpose 
of  protecting  the  raw  material,  to  balance  nature's  gifts  by 
piling  dead  weight  on  those  able  to  make  freest  use  of  them. 
Location  on  the  seaboard  is  an  advantage,  so  it  must  be 
guarded  against  by  discriminating  duties,  lest  the  markets 
for  Lake  ore,  Pennsylvania  coal  and  pig-iron  should  become 
impaired. 

The  tariff  is  made  a  sectional  measure,  which  adds  not  a 
little  of  the  gall  of  injustice  to  the  wormwood  of  vexatious- 
ness.  With  the  exception  of  puddled  iron,  where  the  labor 
cost  is  about  $6  over  the  English  cost  (being  all  hand  labor), 
the  labor  does  not  differ  materially  from  foreign  cost.  Why, 
then,  not  give  New  England,  New  York,  and  Eastern  Penn- 
sylvania the  same  facilities  ?  Free  ore,  coal,  and  iron  would 
enable  the  Eastern  States  to  make  their  own  iron  and 
steel  and  give  them  cheap  materials  for  their  hardware, 
machinery,  and  mill  work.  Free  pig-iron  would  take  from 
Pittsburgh  only  the  Eastern  trade,  and  leave  to  the  present 
iron  kings  all  the  field  from    Harrisburg,  west.     What  a 


224  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

start  this  would  give  to  the  iron  and  kindred  industries  of 
the  Eastern  States  can  be  estimated  when  we  examine  the 
positions  these  industries  have  made  for  themselves  in  the 
world's  markets  even  handicapped  as  thej  are  by  the  tariff. 

Manufacturers'  Tools  and  Machinery. 

If  one  has  made  it  an  object  to  examine  the  tools  and 
other  automatic  machinery  and  the  working  methods  in  the 
metal  and  machine  industries  of  this  country,  and  has  made 
parallel  observations  in  Europe,  he  can  hardly  help  speaking 
in  words  of  admiration  of  the  genius  of  our  people,  who, 
impelled  by  causes  already  discussed,  have  worked  from  the 
most  difficult  beginnings  into  fields  never  trodden  before, 
where  a  tariff  could  hinder,  but  never  could  help.  I  will 
take  the  reader  to  a  few  of  these  industries,  where  machinery 
works  and  men  or  boys  only  guide  or  feed  ;  where  ma- 
chinery, as  a  porter  taking  me  through  a  factory  fitly 
said,  "can  do  all  but  speak." 

The  old  and  the  new  cannot  be  more  fitly  contrasted. 
While  here  the  fittest  only  survives  in  the  struggle,  in  the 
old  it  is  hard  to  shake  off  the  tenacious  hold  of  the  unfittest 
upon  the  industries  it  controls. 

When  I  speak  of  the  "survival  of  the  unfittest"  in  the 
methods  of  manufacture,  I  do  not  refer  to  the  Hebrides,  or 
Orkneys,  Donegal  in  Ireland,  or  some  mountain  districts  in 
Germany,  but  to  England  and  to  the  very  heart  of  this  most 
progressive  of  all  manufacturing  nations  of  Europe.  Some 
years  ago,  the  present  Superintendent  of  the  Census,  Robert 
P.  Porter,  went  about  to  collect  information  for  the  New 
York  Tribune.  1  remember  the  black  picture  he  unrolled 
of  the  pitiable  condition  of  the  nail  makers  of  South  Stafford- 
shire and   Worcestershire,    commonly    called    "  the  black 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  225 

country."  He  was  wise  enough  not  to  mention  the  working 
methods  or  the  output,  so  different  from  American  condi- 
tions. A  statement  of  such  facts  would  have  entirely  frus- 
trated the  object  of  his  mission,  which  was,  to  impress  the 
American  public  with  the  danger  of  degenerating  into  simi- 
lar conditions  if  they  reduced  their  high  tariff.  His  picture 
was  not  by  any  means  overdrawn.  But  without  the  applica- 
cation  of  the  other  part  alluded  to — well — "  A  half  truth  is 
worse  than  a  lie." 

Work  there  is  not  limited  by  the  factory  act,  as  it  is  scat- 
tered all  over  a  large  district — entirely  a  house  industry.  Old 
and  young,  husbands,  wives,  and  daughters,  all  work  at  nail 
making  from  four  or  five  in  the  morning  until  late  at  night. 
Tea  and  bread  constitute  almost  exclusively  their  diet.  An 
expert  nailer,  working  a  whole  week,  would  not  earn  more 
than  12s.;  man  and  wife  working  together  not  above  16s. 
From  this  pittance  about  2s.  would  have  to  be  deducted  for 
firing.  Rivet  makers  earn  better  wages,  about  20s.  a  week, 
because,  on  account  of  the  heavy  work,  women  have  not 
encroached  upon  this  branch.  Exhausting  as  the  working 
methods  are,  they  cannot  give  very  great  results  in  an  age 
in  which  machinery,  more  and  more  perfected,  automatic 
machinery  even,  is  encroaching  constantly  upon  the  domain 
of  hand  labor.  The  principal  tool  is  the  so-called  '^  Oliver." 
It  is  a  sort  of  spring-tilt  hammer,  operated  by  the  foot  of 
the  worker,  mostly  of  home  construction.  It  is  a  clumsy 
and  heavy  instrument,  trying  the  strength  of  the  worker  to 
the  utmost  extent.  Besides  this,  the  nailer  uses  a  hand 
hammer  in  addition  to  the  blowing  of  bellows.  As  consid- 
erable force  is  required  in  the  use  of  the  "  Oliver,"  the 
effect  upon  the  woman's  health  is  very  injurious.  But  in 
spite  of  the  very  pitiable  wages,  women  have  grown  so  accus- 
tomed to  looking  on  this  sort  of  work  as  their  allotted  task, 
15 


226  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQE   WAGES. 

that,  even  where  the  husbands  work  at  other  trades  and 
earn  fairly  good  wages,  the  wives  go  on  as  nailers  or  chain- 
makers.  As  a  consequence,  the  women  are  mostly  flat- 
chested,  pale,  and  thin,  and  home  life  is  at  the  lowest  ebb. 
Nails  are  paid  for  by  the  bundle,  which  means  56  pounds  of 
iron.  Of  ordinary  nails,  two  bundles  of  the  larger  size  con- 
stitute a  good  male  nailer's  day's  work  ;  of  the  smaller  sizes, 
proportionately  less.  For  horseshoe  nails,  now  also  made 
by  machinery,  the  price  paid  is  2s.  per  1,000,  which  here 
means  1,200.  Six  thousand  is  a  good  week's  work.  Rivets 
are  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  os.  6d.  a  hundredweight,  and 
a  half  hundredweight  is  considered  a  good  day's  work. 
Spikes  4|-  inches  by  ^  inch,  are  Is.  6d.;  5  by  |  inch,  Is. 
3d  a  bundle.  That  working  by  such  antiquated  meth- 
ods cannot  produce  better  results  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  surprise  as  the  fact,  that  it  still  gives  employ- 
ment to  from  15,000  to  20,000  people — a  clear  proof  that 
old  trade  habits  are  not  so  easily  superseded  as  many 
imagine."^  How  this  compares  with  American  methods, 
output,  earnings,  and  labor  cost,  will  be  seen  from  a  few 
parallel  facts.  Nail  making,  as  well  as  rivet  making,  spike 
making,  and  even  chain  making,  also  a  considerable  product 
of  the  "black  country  "  in  England,  are  in  this  country  car- 
ried on  by  machinery.  One  nailer  can  attend  three  machines. 
The  output  of  ten-penny  nails  is  18  kegs  per  machine  a 
day,  so  that  three  machines  turn  out  54  kegs  a  day.  The 
list  price  per  keg  is  16  cents,  or  one-half  the  English  cost. 
The  English  nailer  earns  from  10s.  to  12s.  a  week.  If 
helped  by  a  lad,  the  combined  earnings  do  not  exceed  16s., 
or  $3.87.     An  American  nailer,  employed  in  a  Pittsburgh 

*  See  J.  Schoenhof,  "Destructive  Influence  of  the  Tariff,"  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons  (1883),  for  parallel  facts  from  the  nail  makers  in  the  Taunug 
district  in  Germany. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  227 

nail  mill,  gave  me  $5  a  day  as  a  fair  average  of  a  nailer's 
earnings,  and  $1.50  for  the  feeder,  or  some  $30  a  week  for 
the  nailer  alone.  But  we  have  here  an  output  of  over  two 
tons  and  a  half  against  barely  two  hundredweight  in  Eng- 
land. Twenty  times  the  output  against  ten  times  the  wages 
still  leaves  a  comfortable  margin  of  100  per  cent  in  favor  of 
the  new  method.  Of  late  steel  nails  have  been  largely  tak- 
ing the  place  of  wrought-iron  nails.  The  price  is  somewhat 
lower  even  than  that  of  the  latter. 

Spikes  5  inches  and  below  by  f  inch,  per  keg  of  200  lbs., 
40^  cents,  against  English,  Is.  6d  per  bundle,  or  6s.,  or  $1.46 
the  two  hundredweight ;  5  by  |  inch  American,  22|^  cents 
per  keg,  against  Is.  3d  per  bundle,  or  5s.,  or  $1.21|^  per  two 
hundredweight  in  England. 

A  rivet-making  machine  which  .  I  saw  in  operation  not 
long  ago  would  turn  out  easily  from  one  and  a  half  to  two 
tons  of  rivets  a  day,  and  required  one  machine  tender  and  a 
heater.  They  got  between  them  $5  a  day,  but  at  not  one- 
fifth  the  English  labor  cost,  though  six  times  the  wages. 
Still,  in  a  recent  speech,  the  author  of  the  last  tariff  act 
pointed,  "  with  pride  "  I  presume,  to  the  fact  that  the  famous 
act  to  which  he  gave  his  name,  reduced  the  duties  on  iron 
and  steel  nails  and  spikes  from  1^  cents  a  pound  to  1  cent, 
the  heavier  grades  of  the  wire  nails  from  4  to  2  cents.  Where 
has  Mr.  McKinley  been  while  all  these  revolutions  in  the 
economy  of  production  were  wrought — revolutions  which 
would  give  America  the  world's  trade,  were  the  low  cost  of 
its  labor  not  neutralized  by  such  measures  as  the  McKinley 
act? 

Screws,  pins,  etc.,  are  made  automatically.  A  wire  rod, 
or  a  coil  of  wire,  is  put  into  the  machine,  which  performs  a 
number  of  operations,  as  the  results  of  which  the  finished 
screws  drop  into  a  receiving  bag,  and  the  finished  pins  are 


228  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES. 

fastened  on  the  papers.  An  attempt  at  protection  of  labor 
of  this  kind,  aided  by  the  quickest  and  most  inventive  brains, 
is  like  helping  the  speed  of  a  race-horse  by  tying  cannon 
balls  to  its  legs. 

Cutlery. 

Cutlery  of  American  make  is  almost  entirely  of  a  heavy 
character,  very  serviceable  for  farm  and  country  use,  some- 
what clumsy,  but  only  the  more  appropriate  for  the  pur- 
poses it  is  put  to.  Machinery  is  used  for  almost  every  part. 
Our  plated  table-knives  do  not  cut,  it  is  true,  as  they  are 
neither  ground  nor  polished,  nor  are  they  a  thing  of  beauty 
when  the  plating  has  worn  off ;  but,  being  of  one  piece  of 
iron,  give  everybody  a  ready  impression  that  very  little  hand 
labor,  aside  from  the  casting,  has  been  expended  on  them. 
American  cutlery  has  never  been  interfered  with  by  foreign 
importations.  It  even  finds  a  ready  sale  abroad.  Foreign 
cutlery  is  of  an  entirely  different  character.  It  is  essentially 
hand-made.  In  Germany,  Westphalia  is  the  chief  seat  of  an 
industry  which  sends  the  different  parts  far  out  into  the 
country  districts  from  two  or  three  centres.  The  smith- 
work,  the  grinding,  the  finishing,  may  be  done  miles  away 
from  the  other.  The  smiths,  grinders,  finishers  are  all  small 
masters,  supplying  their  own  shops,  fuel,  and  tools. 

The  work  of  the  so-called  manufacturer  is  confined  to 
paying  the  different  labor  items  as  the  work  is  delivered  in 
its  various  stages,  and  to  packing  up  and  shipping  the 
finished  articles,  the  same  as  the  Lj^ons  and  Crefeld  manu- 
facturers in  silks,  most  of  the  Chemnitz  manufacturers  in 
hosiery,  etc.  To  Sheffield,  England,  excellence  more  than 
cheapness  has  given  its  world-wide  reputation.  Even 
there,  though  we  find  large  factories,  most  of  the  work  is 
distributed  in  small  shops.     But,  small  shop  or  factory,  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  229 

working  is  pretty  nearly  the  same  kind  of  hand- work,  skill 
and  experience  giving  to  the  steel  that  excellent  temper  and 
finish  which  make  a  Sheffield  blade,  after  many  years  of  use, 
retain  its  keenness.  As  we  have  nothing  to  fear  for  our 
cutlery,  and  cannot  easily  supplant  foreign  cutlery  for  the 
reasons  stated,  one  ought  to  have  supposed  35  per  cent,  to  be 
a  sufficiently  high  tariff  tax.  But  no ;  probably  to  satisfy  a 
few  greedy  individuals  who  are  looking  out  for  the  great 
possibilities  in  store,  the  old  expedient  is  tried  of  remedying 
lack  of  skill  and  experience  by  an  additional  infusion  of 
tariff  taxes.  Henceforth  anybody  who  wants  a  serviceable 
pocket  knife  or  razor  has  to  pay  an  additional  specific  duty 
which  will  more  than  double  the  old  rate.  On  table  knives, 
forks,  and  all  other  knives,  like  plumbers',  "  painters'  palette, 
and  artists'  knives  "  (to  encourage  art  and  the  arts),  the 
addition  will  be  at  least  one-half  the  old  rate  of  duty. 

Arms,   Ammunition,  Machinery. 

Whenever  machinery  can  be  set  to  work  to  turn  many 
parts  into  a  completed  article  ready  for  use,  no  competition 
need  be  feared.  The  world  moves  slowly  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  In  nothing  is  this  better  shown  than  in 
highly  composite  articles,  where  frequently  hundreds  of 
small  parts  form  a  very  complicated  mechanism. 

Let  us  take,  for  instance,  the  manufacture  of  rifles.  What 
a  gigantic  plant  to  bring  out  the  best  results !  What  a 
variety  of  machinery  is  here  required  !  One  of  the  principal 
and  most  successful  firms,  employing  1,400  work  people 
(including  a  large  proportion  of  girls  and  women  employed 
in  the  cartridge  department),  with  a  weekly  pay  roll  of  from 
$12,000  to  $14,000,  has  no  less  than  6,000  machines  on  its 
premises  used  in  the  manufacture  of  ammunition  and  fire- 


230  I'SE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

arms.  Wages  are  a  small  consideration,  when,  as  is  the 
case  of  most  automatic  machinery,  three  or  four  machines 
are  tended  by  one  man.  This  firm  finds  it  unprofitable  to 
work  for  governments  on  account  of  the  precariousness  of 
work,  the  risks,  and  the  expense  connected  with  obtaining 
contracts.  It  finds  it  the  same  with  the  home  government. 
The  firm  made  application  some  time  ago  for  a  contract  to 
the  United  States  government,  under  great  expense,  had  to 
make  extra  tools,  etc.,  to  suit  the  specifications,  and  had  300 
stands  ordered.  Nothing  further  was  ever  heard  from 
there.  They  have  a  general  and  widely-distributed  trade, 
and  have  to  cater  to  taste  and  changing  fashions. 

They  find  it  profitable  to  lay  out  $20,000  at  a  time  for  tool 
machines  for  a  special  piece  of  work  required  by  a  change 
of  pattern  or  style.  The  number  of  hands  a  rifle  has  to 
go  through,  and  the  pieces  of  machinery  required,  can  \>e 
estimated  from  the  fact  that  the  lock  alone  goes  through  131 
different  operations.  A  fine  magazine  rifle  is  sold  at  retail 
at  $18,  with  a  discount  to  the  trade. ''^  Under  no  other 
system  of  work  and  organization  could  such  a  result  be 
reached.  As  these  goods  go  all  over  the  world,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  high-priced  labor  does  not  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  great  achievement  of  underselling  the  labor  of  lower- 
wage  countries  in  their  own  domains,  but  directly  leads  to  it. 
Cartridges  are  made  in  a  like  manner ;  i.  e.,  with  special 
machinery  for  each  separate  part  of  work.  In  this  depart- 
ment mostly  girls  are  employed.  Even  the  wads  are  made, 
felt-covered,  cut,  and  oiled  by  machinery.  The  same  system 
of  working  and  an  equally  high  average  of  wages,  as  com- 

*  Trade  discounts  are  always  pretty  high.  The  expense  for  advertis- 
ing, etc.,  are  all  included,  and  the  list  prices  are  in  no  possible  way  a 
criterion  to  estimate  the  cost  on,  or  even  the  price  netted  to  the  manu- 
facturer. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  231 

pared  with  other  industries  emplojnng  an  equally  great 
percentage  of  female  labor,  is  found  in  the  clock  and  watch 
industry  of  New  England. 

But  machine  making  itself  is  now  carried  on  mostly  by 
self-acting  machinery,  and  several  pieces  require  chiefly 
the  eye  and  very  little  the  hand  of  one  attendant.  One  is 
surprised,  in  going  through  the  vast  workshops,  to  see  so 
few  people  about,  so  much  work  turned  out,  and  still  so 
many  hundreds  on  the  pay  roll.  This  impression  is  espe- 
cially strong  in  going  through  the  rifle  company's  works  as 
well  as  through  the  works  of  a  concern  engaged  in  making 
tool-machines  for  machine  makers,  and  instruments  of  pre- 
cision for  measuring  gauges,  screw-threads,  etc.  It  can  be 
well  understood  of  what  perfection  and  exactness  this  work 
has  to  be.  Yet,  though  they  employ  some  seven  hundred 
men,  five  or  six  machines  tended  by  one  man  was  nothing 
unusual. 

Europe's  Methods  Different. 

This,  the  American  system,  stands  still  in  remarkable 
contrast  with  Europe.  I  have  pointed  out  in  my  report  on 
"  Industrial  Education  in  France "  how  the  Government  as 
well  as  industrials  exert  themselves  to  keep  the  people  to 
the  old  hand  method.  The  technical  and  trade  schools 
have  all  the  same  end  in  view,  to  give  the  new  generation 
the  same  opportunity  of  perfecting  itself  in  hand  work. 
Excellent  as  it  may  be  from  their  standpoint  and  traditional 
development,  yet  it  must  be  seen  that  it  is  not  likely  that 
our  metal  and  machine  industries  could  be  seriously  pressed 
by  competition  trained  under  such  diametrically  opposed 
views. 

But  more  than  anywhere  else,  I  found  proof  of  this  in 


232  I'SE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

Germany,  at  the  very  heart  of  industrial  push,  Berlin.  The 
Ludwig  Loewe-Company  have  been  made  an  object  of 
special  mention  in  the  Reichstag,  as  they  pay  fully  double 
the  wages  ruling  in  the  trade.  Ludwig  Loewe,  the  founder, 
had  lived  in  America  and  studied  the  system  described 
above.  On  his  return  to  Germany  he  established  a  small- 
arms  and  machine  factory.  The  first  machinery  he  em- 
ployed for  fitting  up  on  the  American  plan  he  procured 
from  the  firm  whose  works  are  mentioned  above,  but  now 
his  company  make  all  their  own  tools.  This  I  heard  inde- 
pendently from  both  parties.  Messrs.  Loewe  told  me  it 
pays  them  well  to  adhere  to  this  plan.  They  have  none 
but  picked  men,  and  with  the  system  borrowed  from  America 
the  day  wages  are  not  such  a  consideration  as  the  output 
and  the  reliability  of  their  help.  This  fully  proves  how 
slowly  the  world  follows  in  our  footsteps.  The  reason  is 
plain :  it  requires  American  conditions,  not  American 
example  alone,  to  bring  the  world  to  the  same  high  stand- 
ard of  production  and  productiveness. 

But  why  demonstrate  further  ?  Handicapped  as  America 
is  by  high-priced  iron  and  fuel,  she  exports  in  manufactures 
of  iron,  hardware,  cutlery,  mill  work,  machinery,  and  imple- 
ments, agricultural  machinery  and  cars,  65  per  cent  more 
than  Germany,  and  about  25  per  cent,  of  England's  exports 
in  corresponding  articles. 

The  positions  are : 

Exports  of  England,  1890 $150,000,000 

Exports  of  America,  1890 37,000,000 

Exports  of  Germany,  1890 22,000,000 

What  better  proof  can  there  be  that  labor  and  capital  are 
discriminated  against  to  favor  a  few  noisy  and  domineering 
interests  ?  The  higher  cost  of  raw  materials  on  account  of 
"  protection  "  is  an  impediment  to  extension  of  trade. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH    WAGES.  233 

The  duty  on  tin  plate  raised  from  1  cent  to  2i  cents 
shows  more  than  any  other  the  unpardonable  ignorance  of 
the  lawmakers,  and  their  indifference  to  the  rights  of  the 
producer  of  finished  articles,  as  well  as  of  the  consumer. 
Tin  is  an  article  that  is  not  manufactured  in  America 
and  cannot  be  manufactured  in  this  country  even  under  the 
new  rate  of  duty,  because  the  conditions  are  absent  in 
America  which  are  so  abundant  in  Wales — hand  labor,  male 
and  female,  which  for  generations  has  brought  down  hered- 
itary skill.  After  a  year's  operation  of  the  new  tariff  it 
has  been  made  clear  by  experience  that,  unless  at  rates  far 
more  exorbitant  than  the  new  duty,  tin  plates  cannot  be 
manufactured  for  commercial  purposes  in  America  against 
Wales,  which,  by  loijg  traditional  development,  has  acquired 
a  monopoly  of  the  world's  trade.  The  attempt  of  Germany 
is  not  considered  successful  in  this  line.  It  has  still  to 
depend  on  Wales  for  its  supply.  In  view  of  these  facts, 
which  ought  not  to  have  been  unknown  to  the  makers  of 
this  law,  the  act  of  saddling  the  people  with  an  additional 
eight  millions  of  taxes  on  their  tin  plate  appears  as  sheer 
madness.* 

*  The  high  rates  of  duty  put  on  tin  plate  seem  to  have  frightened  the 
producers  in  Wales.  The  heavy  falling  off  in  their  trade,  after  the  new 
act  had  gone  into  operation,  gave  support  to  their  fear  that  the  business 
was  going  to  be  diverted  from  them.  They  were  reported  to  be  active  in 
making  Australia  and  Argentina  rivals  of  the  United  States  in  the  can- 
ning industry.  If  they  succeed,  the  American  farmer  will  have  another 
illustration,  added  to  the  many  he  has  already  received,  how  he  has  his 
markets  stolen  away  from  him  by  the  protective  tariflf.  The  necessity 
for  such  action,  however,  will  become  less  urgent  to  the  English  mer- 
chant and  the  Welsh  manufacturers  when  they  see  the  real  nature  of  the 
tia  plate  industry  created  by  the  McKinley  act.  The  importations  were 
very  heavy  in  anticipation  before,  and  became,  of  course,  correspond- 
ingly light  after  the  act  took  effect.  But  now,  over  a  year  that  the  act 
has  come  in  force  on  tin  plate,  the  shipments  are  as  heavy  as  ever. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Textile  Industries. — Labor's  Higher  Reward  in  America  due  en- 
tirely to  Greater  Exertion.— Greater  Output  and  Lower  Labor  Cost 
in  Cotton  Manufacture. — The  Tariff  increases  Profit  Rates  but  re- 
duces Wages. — Print  Cloth  in  Evidence. — Senators'  Pettifogging 
Methods  to  stifle  Results  of  Investigations. 

The  woven  fabrics  used  bj  every  country  under  the  old 
dispensation  of  things  had  almost  entirely  been  produced 
by  the  people  themselves.  Since  steam  has  given  such 
development  to  manufacturing,  with  the  help  of  machinery, 
and  to  transportation,  many  inroads  have  been  made  and 
much  displacement  of  labor  used  to  the  old  methods  has 
been  going  on.  A  priori  reasoning  would  lead  to  the  belief 
that  nations  of  the  highest  potentiality  in  manufacturing 
development,  especially  in  lines  where  machinery  can  be  kept 
running  constantly  on  the  same  goods,  as  in  plain  cotton 
goods,  would  produce  the  cheapest  fabrics  and  command  the 
trade  of  less  advanced  countries,  did  not  general  statistical 
knowledge  of  the  facts  of  trade  support  these  rational  con- 
clusions. 

The  political  economists  of  protectionism  in  America, 
however,  have  persuaded  a  good  percentage  of  otherwise 
acute  reasoners,  that  a  curved  line  is  shorter  than  a  straight 
one,  and  it  is  for  this  that  so  much  work  had  to  be  under- 
taken to  set  the  people  right  again.  An  inquiry  into  the 
cost  of  production  of  industrial  articles  here  and  abroad 
would  certainly  furnish  the  only  reliable  premises  to  build 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  235 

upon.  I  selected  print  cloth  in  tbis  instance,  and  for  the 
following  reasons  :  It  is  made  in  America  of  the  finer  count 
of  yarn  than  the  bulk  of  our  cotton  fabrics  (28  warp  by  36 
weft).  If  the  spinning  cost  in  these  numbers  does  not  ex- 
ceed the  foreign  labor  expense,  the  test  will  then  certainly 
cover  fully  nine-tenths  of  American  spinning,  which  in  the 
low  numbers  is  admittedly  cheaper  than  in  England,  the 
cheapest  spinning  country  of  Europe. 

Print  cloth  is  easily  described  and  found  in  different 
countries,  as  representing  the  same  goods  '"under  the  same 
formula — 28  inches  wide,  64  by  64  threads  to  the  square 
inch,  against  28  inches  wide,  16  by  16  threads  to  the 
quarter  inch,  in  England,  which  means  the  same  thing. 

In  America  it  is  made  in  mills  which  run  entirely  on 
this  one  article,  and  hence  produced  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances.  This  is  true,  more  or  less,  of  all  our 
cotton  manufacturing.  It  is  different  in  England,  where 
mills  are  engaged  on  a  great  variety  of  goods.  The  spin- 
ning is  done  separately,  with  very  few  exceptions.  Gener- 
ally the  weaving  alone  is  considered  to  be  legitimately 
called  cotton  manufacturing.  Going  through  a  mill  at  Sal- 
ford,  near  Manchester,  which  spins  its  own  yarn  and  con- 
sumes weekly  about  150,000  pounds  of  cotton,  running 
3,100  looms  on  twills  and  fancy  cottons  mostly,  I  found  not 
twenty  looms  employed  on  the  same  article.  The  variety 
of  their  fabrics  was  something  amazing  to  one  accustomed 
to  American  methods.  In  print  cloth  this  is  different.  I 
found  Burnley,  in  Northeast  Lancashire,  to  run  exclusively 
on  print  cloth.  As  the  weaving  of  print  cloth  gives  so 
mucb  greater  output  per  hand  through  the  greater  num- 
ber of  looms  worked  in  America  than  in  England,  the 
proof  is  certainly  equally  conclusive  for  the  heavier  yarn 
fabrics. 


236  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Relative  Positions  of  England  and  America. 

I  found  the  relative  positions  to  be  as  follows :  Ameri- 
can print  cloth  is  made,  as  said  before,  of  28  warp  by  36  to 
38  weft  yarn,  while  the  English  make  it  officially  of  32  by 
40  to  42  weft,  but  in  reality  the  clothmakers  take  from  three 
to  four  numbers  finer.  This  gives  them  at  the  outset  a  very 
great  advantage.  A  pound  of  3'arn  is  thereby  made  to  give 
a  greater  quantity  of  yards,  and  a  saving  of  cotton  plus  the 
spinning  cost  is  effected,  which  very  largely  outweighs  the 
advantage  we  have  in  the  cheaper  labor  cost  of  turning  a 
pound  of  cotton  yarn  into  seven  yards  of  print  cloth,  the 
standard  American  weight.  I  had  been  told  by  an  Ameri- 
can manufacturer  of  print  cloth  that  he  knew  that  his  spin- 
ning was  cheaper  than  the  English,  and  that  if,  as  he  said, 
our  weaving  was  cheaper,  he  could  not  understand  why  he 
could  not  export  to  England.  He  had  tried  it  by  sending 
goods  over  to  England,  but  had  not  found  it  a  success. 
The  English  practice  above  described  offers  a  sufficient 
explanation.  But  to  make  doubly  sure,  to  have  a  demon- 
stration of  facts  which  could  not  be  contradicted  by  any 
"ifs,"  I  bought  a  piece  of  print  cloth  of  the  width  and 
count  mentioned  above,  and  found  it  to  measure  exactly 
nine  yards  to  the  pound.  A  saving  of  two-ninths  in  the 
weight  of  the  yarn  is,  therefore,  at  the  start  carried  to  the 
credit  of  the  English,  as  competitors  with  American  manu- 
facturers. We  certainly  cannot  become  successful  ex- 
porters of  American  cotton  goods  if  we  neglect  the  study 
of  such  simple  lessons,  the  exact  analysis  of  the  goods  of 
our  successful  competitors,  the  purveyors  of  the  markets 
we  hanker  after.  A  little  more  alertness  of  our  manufac- 
turers and  shippers  would  be  of  some  use  in  the  endeavor 
to  extend  our  markets  in  cotton  goods,  which  even  Mr. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  237 

Blaine's  reciprocity  treaties   cannot  prevent  from  making 
progress  in  a  backward  direction. 

Protectionism,  chiefly  concerned  in  defending  a  home 
market  against  intrusion,  dulls  the  intellect  of  all  who  come 
under  its  baneful  influence.  The  safe  possession  of  neutral 
markets  is  thereby  guaranteed  to  all  those  who  have  eman- 
cipated themselves,  and  are  thereby  able  to  strike  out  for 
themselves,  unaided  by  laws  and  untrammeled  by  imperti- 
nent restrictions. 

Print  Clotli.    The  Comparative  Cost  and  Rate  of 

Wages. 

In  England  the  wage  rates  are  by  no  means  universal  in 
the  same  line  of  industry,  and  it  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
matter  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  things.  One  section  pays 
differently  and  has  different  trade  rulings  from  another, 
even  in  so  plain  a  thing  as  cotton  spinning.  Still,  the  rates 
paid  for  the  counts  of  yarn  given  below  cannot  vary  much 
from  those  paid  elsewhere  in  England.  I  obtained  them 
from  a  mill  at  Rochdale  for  mule  spinning,  and  will  set  them 
side  by  side  with  those  paid  in  America,  according  to  the 
price  list  of  the  Mule  Spinners'  Trade  Union  at  Fall  River : 

WAGE   RATES  TO   MULE  SPINNERS. 

(Per  100  Pounds.) 
No.  of  Yam.  Fall  River.        Rochdale. 

20 $0.45  $0.50 

28 0.64  0.61 

33 0.72  0.73if 

40 0.98  1.00 

46 1.14  1.12 

50 1.29  1.35 

In  the  lower  numbers  the  American  rates  are  below  the 
English;  in  the   medium   numbers  they  approximate,  and 


238  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

only  in  the  numbers  above  sixty  the  English  begin  to  show 
a  progressively  increasing  difference  iu  their  favor.  Mule 
spinning  is  all  male  labor.  Throstle  spinning  is  done  by 
girls ;  but  while  in  England  one  girl  attends  four  sides  of  144 
spindles,  in  America  one  girl  supervises  as  many  as  eight 
sides  of  120  spindles  each,  576  spindles  against  960  spindles.* 
Doubtless,  in  consideration  of  these  facts,  which  must  have 
found  their  way  in  some  yet  unexplained  manner  into  the 
Ways  and  Means  Committee  room,  the  tariff  on  cotton  yams, 
"  whether  single,  or  advanced  by  grouping  or  twisting  two 
or  more  single  yarns  together,  except  spool  thread,"  was 
amended  by  reducing  the  rate  of  yarn  in  one  instance  from 
23  to  20  cents  a  pound ;  but  in  order  not  to  be  found  guilty 
of  getting  too  near  the  free-trade  heresy  they  increased  the 
duty  of  yarns  costing  not  less  than  25  cents  and  not  more 
than  40  cents  a  pound,  and  yarns  costing  not  less  than  50 
cents  and  not  more  than  60  cents  a  pound,  each  three  cents 
a  pound.  If  this  is  not  trifling  with  the  industrial  demand 
for  lower  taxes,  then  language  must  invent  other  terms. 

English  yarns,  especially  warp  yarns,  are  superior  to 
American  yarns,  being  far  more  even  and  better  twisted. 
They   are   preferred   for  manufacturing  purposes  on  this 

*  The  daily  earnings  in  the  leading  branches  taken  from  mills  accounts 

I  found  to  be  : 

Switzerland  Englakd.  America. 

AMD  Oerhant.  Rochdale  and  Lowell  and 

Salford.  Fall  River. 

Cents.  Cents.  Cents. 

Mnle  spinners 57  to  66  125  to  168  150 

Helpers . .  64  to    72  60  (boys.) 

Spinnera  (women) 48                                        56  84 

Carding  (women) 38  48  to   71 

Drawing 38  60to   68 

Weavers 44  to  55 »  65  to   83*  90  to  120' 

Pine  yam  spinners  at  Bolton  earn  50  shillings  a  week,  equal  to  $2  a  day. 
The  day  wages  stand  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  cost  of  production. 

>  8  to  8  looms.        3  3  and  4  looms  respectively.        >  6  and  8  looms. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  239 

account.  Even  in  the  lower  numbers,  which  cost  no  more 
to  produce  than  English  yarns,  we  import  considerable 
quantities,  and  pay  a  duty  of  50  per  cent.  In  mixed  goods 
of  silk  and  cotton  this  is  not  a  light  burden,  but  where 
nobody  objected,  except  the  consumer,  the  framers  of  this 
odious  law  did  not  seem  to  consider  it  their  duty  to  reduce 
rates  even  where  a  necessity  for  the  continuance  of  duties 
had  long  ceased  to  exist. 

While  in  the  spinning  of  lower  numbers  of  yarn  we 
possess  advantages,  we  possess  them  to  a  still  greater  degree 
in  the  weaving.  In  England  four  looms  is  the  most  a  single 
weaver  would  tend.  Some  tend  six  looms,  bat  then  they 
invariably  have  the  help  of  a  boy.  In  Switzerland  and 
Germany  two  is  the  rule,  and  exceptionally  three,  while  in 
America  four  looms  is  the  lower  and  eight  looms  the  higher 
limit.  I  found  in  the  Lowell  mills  six  and  three-quarters  to 
be  the  average  tended  by  one  weaver. 

The  average  earnings  per  loom  in  Burnley  are  5s.  3d,  or 
$1.25.  This  gives  $3.75  to  a  three-loom  weaver  and  $5  to  a 
four-loom  weaver.  "  A  guinea  a  week  is  considered  very 
good  wages  for  good  weavers."  The  rate  of  pay  per  100 
yards  was  51  cents,  and  the  output  of  a  four-loom  weaver 
was  stated  to  me  to  be  980  yards.  In  Lowell  the  rate  of 
speed  is  slower,  but  the  average  of  six-loom  weavers  in  one 
mill  I  found  to  be  1,270  yards,  and  in  another  mill  1,350 
yards.  But  in  Lowell  the  pay  per  cut  of  50  yards  is  20 
cents,  per  100  yards  40  cents.  A  six-loom  weaver  would 
average  $5.08  in  one  mill  and  $5.40  in  the  other  mill.  Hence 
a  six-loom  weaver  in  America  is  not  much  better  situated 
than  a  four-loom  weaver  in  England.  Eight-loom  weavers, 
of  course,  earn  correspondingly  higher  wages,  from  $6.40  to 
$7.30,  according  to  the  above  ratio. 

In  both  instances  I  took  my  data  from  mill  accounts. 


240  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

Making  allowance  for  all  of  these  differences,  I  found  the 

COST  OP  MANUFACTURING  A  POUND  OF  PRINT  CLOTH  : 
Spinning  Cost  per  Pound  of  Yarn, 

Averago  No.    Average  No. 

37i.  Z-i\. 

Lancashire.         Lowell. 

Total  wages 1.708  1.993 

Power  and  taxes .418  .298 

Supplies 240  .240 

Repairs  and  depreciation .6  .475 

Interest  on  loan,  etc .36 

Carriage .18 

Expense,  etc .150 

Addition .090 

3.506  3.205 

Weaving  Cost  per  Seven  Yards  to  the  Pound. 

Weavers'  wages 3.57  2.8 

Dressing  or  sizing .479  .469 

Beaming,  twisting,  winding,  etc .758  .428 

Extra  board .039 

Labor 4.802  3.736 

Supplies  and  expense 1.38  1.333 

6.182  5.071 

Or  a  Total  Cost  per  Pound  of  Finished  Goods. 

Labor  cost  of  spinning 1 .708  1.992 

Labor  cost  of  weaving 4.802  3.736 

Cost  of  supplies  and  other  mill  charges 3.175  2.823 

9.685  8.551 

"We  have  here  a  credit  of  1.134  mostly  due  to  cheaper 
labor  cost,  against  which  stands  a  credit  of  two-ninths  pound 
of  yarn  in  the  English  cost  of  seven  yards  of  print  cloth. 
With  cotton  in  England  (inclusive  of  waste)  at  11.8  cents, 
this  makes  a  difference  of  3.258  cents,  and,  deducting  cheaper 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  241 

American  cost  of  1.134  cents,  still  leaves  a  balance  of  2.124 
cents  in  each  seven  yards  of  American  cloth  ;  or,  allowing 
for  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  cotton  on  account  of  freight 
to  Liverpool  of,  say,  half  a  cent,  about  1|  to  If  cents. 

The  American  cloth  stood  (cotton  and  waste,  10.695 
cents)  at  19.246  cents  a  pound,  or  2.766  per  yard,  which 
yard  the  Englishman  is  enabled  to  sell  at  about  a  quarter  of 
a  cent  less  to  our  "natural  customers"  by  giving  them  a 
finer  cloth.  Though  with  less  cotton  and  more  sizing,  it 
seems  to  be  taken  by  them  willingly  in  spite  of  our  con- 
vincing one  another  of  its  unwholesomeness  and  inferiority 
as  to  "intrinsic  quality."  It  is  not  necessary  to  deal 
seriatim  with  Germany  and  Switzerland.  The  fact  that  the 
Mulhouse  and  Elberfeld  printers  use  English  print  cloth  for 
exportation,  in  which  case  they  get  the  import  duty  refunded, 
does  of  itself  prove  conclusively  that  they  cannot  produce 
as  cheaply  as  England,  and  far  less  America,  without  intro- 
ducing direct  and  detailed  evidence. 

That  this  applies  with  equal  force  to  heavier  cotton 
fabrics,  drills,  sheeting,  etc.,  is  seen  from  another  com- 
parison touching  a  4-4  sheeting.  My  sample  represented 
goods  counting  48  by  40  threads  to  the  inch,  and  measuring 
2.90  yards  to  the  pound.  For  these  our  labor  cost  for  weav- 
ing, inclusive  of  warping  and  beaming,  etc.,  comes  to  1.186 
cents  per  pound,  which  is  .405  cent  a  yard.  English  goods 
of  the  same  count  are  paid  at  the  rate  of  Is.  5d.  for  weaving 
a  piece  of  80  yards,  and  2s.  Sd.  for  beaming  and  warping 
720  yards  of  warp,  or  about  3d  for  the  80-yard  piece — total 
Is.  8d,  or  40  cents,  the  80  yards,  which  is  .5  cent  against 
.405  cent  in  America.  Still,  although  cotton  is  about  ^  cent 
higher  on  account  of  ocean  freight,  the  English  goods,  with 
a  finer  yarn,  but  more  dressing,  were  a  shade  lower  in  price 
than  my  American  samples. 
16 


242  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

It  must  be  admitted  that,  no  matter  how  we  may  be 
affected  as  exporters  by  these  important  facts,  the  ability  of 
the  United  States  to  exclude  from  its  own  shores  foreign 
competition  in  cotton  goods,  even  if  there  were  no  tariff  pro- 
tection whatever,  cannot  be  denied.  The  higher  duties  are 
maintained,  and  are  of  great  use  in  times  of  great  demand. 
Then  prices  are  put  up.  For  instance,  in  print  cloth,  which 
when  I  made  my  investigation  sold  at  3  cents  to  3J  cents 
per  yard,  and  later  on,  under  a  brisk  demand,  at  4  cents  a 
yard,  cotton  being  not  more  per  pound.  This  gave  a  very 
wide  margin  of  profit,  and  showed  that  a  high  tariff  is  not  a 
thing  to  be  despised,  even  if  not  required  for  the  protection 
of  labor,  which,  per  work  done,  gets  less  than  any  other 
labor  the  world  over.  But  these  violent  changes  in  prices, 
while  competing  nations  keep  their  prices  stable,  are  great 
inconvenience  in  our  efforts  to  become  extensive  exporters 
of  cotton  goods.  Many  a  time  had  I  to  hear  English  mer- 
chants make  the  remark  that  it  was  of  little  use  to  buy 
American  goods  :  that  no  sooner  was  there  an  active  trade 
in  the  United  States  than  the  prices  were  raised  so  high  that 
the  goods  could  not  be  used  any  more.  This  is  an  addi- 
tional hint  to  those  who  cannot  see  that  it  requires  some- 
thing besides  reciprocity  treaties  to  extend  foreign  trade  in 
cotton  fabrics. 

Republican  Contradiction. 

I  do  not  know  why  such  efforts  should  have  been  made 
to  contradict  my  statements,  in  my  official  reports  to  the 
State  Department,  bearing  on  the  cost  of  manufacturing  here 
and  in  England,  except  that  the  proof  of  labor  being  paid 
less  per  piece  or  pound  than  in  the  Old  World  was  damag- 
ing to  the  claim,  that  a  high  rate  of  duty  was  required  to 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  248 

protect  American  labor.  Facts  need  no  defense.  Thej 
stand  on  their  own  merits.  *  But  on  the  other  hand,  broad 
denials  and  "  refutations "  on  the  Senate  floor  by  such 
authorities,  for  instance,  as  ex-Senator  Chace,  a  cotton 
manufacturer  himself,  could  not  fail  to  make  an  impression, 
and  might  throw  doubts  upon  the  accuracy  of  the  state- 
ments, which,  if  correct,  must  be  of  vital  importance,  not 
alone  in  the  tariff  issue,  but  in  their  applicability  to  the 
labor  question  and  the  whole  range  of  social  and  economic 
dynamics. 

But  to  show  the  nature  of  this  "  refutation  "  is  also  to 
show  its  futility,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  strongest  indorsement 
of  the  accuracy  of  these  reports.  On  this  account  it  will 
serve  a  public  purpose  to  call  attention  to  it.  In  answer  to 
Senator  Gray  of  Delaware,  who  referred  to  my  reports  to 
the  State  Department,  Senator  Aldrich  said  : 

"  If  the  Senate  will  turn  to  the  speech  made  by  my  late 
colleague,  Mr.  Chace,  in  this  body  in  the  last  Congress,  he 
will  find  the  statements  of  Mr.  Schoenhof  taken  up  seriatim, 
and  shown  by  figures  and  facts  within  his  knowledge  to  be 
inaccurate." 

The  speech  referred  to  is  contained  in  the  Congressional 
Record,  vol.  20,  Part  II.,  page  1,041.  A  brief  statement  will, 
therefore,  sufl&ce,  as  any  one  wishing  to  obtain  the  full  facts 
can  get  them  by  reading  over  those  pages.  From  the  above 
sentence  reported  in  the  papers  I  had  expected  to  learn  ter- 
rible things  about  my  "inaccuracy,"  and  it  turned  out  to  be 
as  follows :  My  report  stated  that  No.  33  yarn  was  paid  for 
in  spinners'  wages  at  the  rate  of  75  cents  a  pound,  No.  37  at 
84  cents,  and  No.  39  at  93  cents  a  pound,  while,  as  Senator 
Chace  correctly  stated,  the  whole  pound  of  yarn,  No.  40,  is 
sold  at  18  cents.  But  he  did  not  quote  my  statement  imme- 
diately following,  that  the  whole  labor  expense  for  turning 


244  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

a  pound  of  cotton  into  yarn  (average  No.  33)  is  not  more 
than  1.992  cents. 

The  whole  difficulty  arose  from  the  omission  of  decimal 
points.  The  figures  ought  to  have  read,  ".75,  .84,  and  .93," 
etc.  Senator  Yance  called  the  attention  of  Senator  Chace  to 
this  fact,  but  quickly  the  senator  from  Ehode  Island  pointed 
to  other  figures  equally  damning.  I  will  give  the  senator's 
words.  "  He  [Schoenhof]  says :  '  They  spin  1,792  pounds  at 
$540,  which  is  equal  only  to  ^^  cent  a  pound.'  I  have 
figured  it  all  sorts  of  ways,  but  I  cannot  figure  it  out,"  etc. 
Now,  I  had  given  the  explanation  myself  in  the  very  sen- 
tence quoted;  namely,  that  1,792  pounds  at /„■  cent  equals 
$5.40  (or,  closely  figured,  $5,37|^).  The  omission  of  a  decimal 
point  by  the  printers,  here  again  as  above,  was  all  the  senator 
could  find  to  base  his  attack  on.  But  it  was  evidently  suf- 
ficient It  served  the  purpose,  as  Senator  Aldrich'a  answer 
to  Senator  Gray  plainly  shows. 

Another  example  of  almost  amusing  pettifogging  may  be 
stated  yet.  Senator  Chace  quotes  me  as  saying  in  one  place 
that  the  charge  per  pound  of  cotton  yarn  in  Lowell  for 
water  power  and  taxes  was  .298  cent,  and  in  another  place 
saying  that  it  is  .568  cent.  The  one  referred  to  yarn,  and 
the  larger  sum  to  the  pound  of  finished  cloth,  including  the 
yarn,  as  I  had  explicitly  stated.  Printer's  proof  was  sent 
to  me  as  I  had  requested,  and  when  I  saw  these  misprints 
I  cabled  from  England  to  delay  printing  for  corrections. 
But  the  matter  had  gone  through  the  press  already.  This 
was  fortunate  for  Messrs.  Chace  and  Aldrich.  What  would 
they  have  done  for  a  basis  of  attack  had  the  decimal  points 
been  put  in  their  proper  places  ?  Truly,  if  the  defenders  of 
a  discredited  system  have  to  stoop  to  puerile  tactics  in  order 
to  find  a  foothold  for  attacking  an  opponent,  then  their  case 
must  be  a  weak  one  indeed. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  245 

It  may  be  asked  why  these  supreme  efforts  on  the  part 
of  manufacturers  and  their  representatives  in  the  houses 
of  Congress  to  uphold  the  high  tariff  even  on  cottons, 
when  wages,  measured  by  the  piece,  are  below  the  English, 
and  we  export  the  products  of  the  cotton  mills. 

The  answer  is  easily  given. 

It  has  been  shown  that  with  cotton  at  10.695,  the  finished 
cloth  cost  19.246  cents.  This  was  from  mill  accounts  for 
October,  1886.  Print  cloth  was  selling  then  at  8|-  cents  a 
yard,  and  even  at  3  cents,  at  one  time,  as  trade  was  de- 
pressed. This  is  21  to  22f  cents  the  pound,  and  no  great 
margin  was  left  for  profits.  But  since  then  print  cloth  has 
sold  as  high  as  4  cents  a  yard,  with  cotton  no  higher, 
and  gave,  therefore,  not  less  than  8  to  9  cents,  or  about  50 
per  cent,  over  cost  of  production.  For  print  cloth  not  the 
best  quality  of  cotton  is  used,  and  the  present  price  of 
cotton,  best  middling  at  7f  cents,  would  give  an  extra 
profit  of  3  cents.  The  price  of  print  cloth  to-day  is  8f 
cents,  or  23f  cents  the  pound.  On  the  basis  of  present 
cotton  prices  we  have  16.246  cents  as  cost,  and  7.379  cents 
as  profit,  or  1.651  more  than  the  cost  of  all  the  labor  con- 
tained in  a  pound  of  print  cloth. 

I  take  only  3  cents  as  the  difference  in  the  cost  of  cotton 
between  1886  and  to-da}^  The  price  having  varied  between 
Qj  cents  and  7^  cents  during  this  year,  the  average  would 
be  7  cents,  instead  of  7|  cents,  and  give  an  additional  f  cent 
to  the  profit  of  the  mills.  The  whole  of  the  decline  in  cot- 
ton, so  disastrous  to  the  farmer  in  the  South,  is  absorbed  in 
extra  profits. 

If  labor  receives  more  pay  by  the  piece  to-day  than  in 
1886, 1  have  not  become  aware  of  it.  At  any  rate  it  will  be 
seen  that  there  is  sufficient  inducement  in  the  other  quarter 
for  the  strongly  urged  injunction  "  not  to  disturb  the  tariff." 


CHAPTER  YT. 

Ability  to  satisfy  the  Taste  of  Buyer  determines  the  Course  of  Trade. — 
Cotton  Goods,  Printing,  Finishing. — Important  Points  in  Exporting. 
— Our  Importations  caused  by  Inability  of  Home  Producer  to  answer 
the  Wants  of  our  People. — New  Departure  in  Tariff  Legislation. 

Befoke  taking  up  the  branches  of  cotton  goods  which 
we  import,  I  shall  have  to  say  a  few  words  of  what  the  Ger- 
mans call  the  "  Yeredlungsprozess,"  which  I  may  translate 
into  "  aestheticizing."  It  comprises  color,  design,  and  finish 
in  dry  goods,  everything  that  makes  the  article  attractive  to 
the  eye.  I  shall  confine  my  remarks  more  to  printed  fab- 
rics, because  the  subject  throws  additional  light  upon  our 
exporting  trade,  and  likewise  explains  why  we  import  fab' 
rics  regardless  of  price  and  the  duties  heaped  upon  them. 

The  printing  of  cotton  prints  is  done  by  means  of  en- 
graved rollers.  For  each  color  in  the  design  a  roller  is  sup- 
plied, which  is  fed  from  a  separate  color  box.  The  separate 
colors  closely  fitting  into  the  design  together  form  the  pat- 
tern. Three,  four,  as  well  as  ten  and  twelve  color  patterns 
are  thus  printed  in  one  running  of  the  printing  machine. 
In  America,  where  quantity  is  the  end  and  aim,  400  pieces 
of  fifty  yards  each  were  given  me  in  Lowell  print  works  as 
an  average  of  output  for  three  to  four  patterns,  and  250 
pieces  for  eight  to  twelve  color  patterns.  This  is  20,000 
yards  of  the  former  and  12,500  yards  of  the  latter  as  one 
day's  work.  An  owner  of  print  works  in  another  part  of 
the  country  told  me  that  in  his  works  they  run  as  high  as 
700  pieces  a  day.     With  a  printer  at  $4.50  a  day,  and  a 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  247 

helper  at  $1.50,  the  direct  printing  cost  in  labor  (and  accept- 
ing the  first  statement  of  output  for  the  example)  is  not 
more  than  three  one-liundredtlis  of  a  cent  per  yard.  The 
finishing  is  done  by  running  the  prints  through  a  calender- 
ing machine,  which  would  not  add  very  materially  to  the 
cost 

English  print  works,  as  well  as  Mulhouse  and  Elberfeld 
printers  in  Germany,  whom  I  visited,  are  unable  to  turn  out 
work  as  cheaply  as  we  do.  A  leading  Manchester  printer 
who  took  me  through  his  works  showed  me  an  endless 
variety  of  patterns  in  his  pattern  book.  Some  of  them 
are  years  old.  But  still  he  has  to  keep  his  rollers  on 
hand,  as  orders  may  come  at  any  time  from  the  remotest 
corners  of  the  world.  Working  for  all  countries  and  zones, 
each  has  to  be  supplied  in  its  own  peculiar  tints  and  tastes. 
They  buy  the  cloths  as  they  require  them  for  their  orders. 
This  printer  had  about  10,000  to  11,000  engraved  copper 
rollers  on  hand,  and  some  800  living  patterns.  Eollers 
which  are  not  to  be  used  any  more  are  ground  off  and  re-en- 
graved. Of  course,  they  cannot  keep  grinding  out  tbe  stuff 
for  days  without  a  change  of  rollers,  as  we  do,  and  their 
cost  is  consequently  considerably  higher.  The  labor  cost 
in  Manchester  for  printing  was  given  me  from  the  books. 
It  is  7fc?.  for  a  piece  of  thirty  yards,  inclusive  of  finishing, 
engraving  of  rollers,  and  designing.  Half  a  cent  against  less 
than  one-twentieth  of  a  cent  in  America.  Wbat  applies  to 
England,  as  against  America,  applies  witb  greater  force  still 
to  Germany,  which  gets  the  gleanings  where  England  har- 
vests the  bulk. 

I  was  told  by  the  owners  of  extensive  print  works  in 
Elberfeld  that  they  had  given  up  trying  to  compete  with 
America  in  Mexico,  for  instance,  or  wherever  the  peopie 
have  accommodated  themselves  to  our  style  of  goods.    This 


248  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

does  not  seem  to  have  cut  as  deeply  into  their  trade,  and 
certainly  not  into  England's  trade,  as  they  imagine  in  Ger- 
many. And  for  very  good  reasons.  Cheapness  alone  does 
not  conquer  foreign  trade.  Especially  not  where  the  tastes 
have  to  be  considered.  Southern  countries,  with  their  fine 
color  sense,  large  consumers  of  printed  fabrics,  would  cer- 
tainly not  be  largely  influenced  to  turn  to  our  goods  because 
of  a  difference  of  a  third  of  a  cent,  even  if  this  difference 
were  not  so  effectually  wiped  out  by  savings  in  other  direc- 
tions, as  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter.  As  it  is,  England 
exported  in  1890  £11,460,482,  or  about  $56,000,000  of  cot- 
ton prints.  Of  this  sum  $15,000,000  went  to  the  West 
Indies,  South  and  Central  America.*  Of  dyed  and  colored 
cotton  fabrics  an  additional  amount  of  £8,765,000  was 
shipped,  and  to  the  South  Americas  about  $7,000,000  of 
this  sum ;  to  all  countries  some  $98,000,000,  and  to  Central  t 
and  South  America  and  the  West  Indies  about  $22,000,000. 
Our  export  trade  in  colored  cottons  is  $2,800,000,  and  half 
of  this  expresses  our  trade  figures  to  the  American  divisions 
named. 

What  gives  England  this  firm  hold  of  the  world's  trade 
in  cotton  goods  (in  all  kinds  of  cotton  fabrics  £75,000,000, 
or  $375,000,000  in  1890  against  our  $12,000,000)  is  not 
cheap  labor  as  against  America,  her  only  possible  rival  in 
cotton  goods,  as  has  been  demonstrated.  It  is  not  alone  the 
saving  effected  by  giving  a  lighter  cloth,  but  that  the  English 
really  give  a  sightlier  fabric.  The  finer  yarn,  though  it  be 
sized  up,  does  something  toward  this ;  but  that  in  color  and 
finishing  they  are  far  ahead  of  us,  and  by  being  ready  and 
able  to  give  to  the  different  markets  what  they  require,  is  a 
fact  of  greatest  force,  and  makes  it  certain  that  they  cannot 
easily  be  supplanted  unless  we  do  likewise. 

*  Including  Mexico.  f  Ibid. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  £49 

Our  colorings  show  a  certain  crudeness  against  tlie  Eng- 
lish, which  makes  them  somewhat  harsh  to  the  eye.  Theirs 
have  more  of  a  softness  and  pleasing  depth.  Skill  in  color 
mixing  there  is  more  or  less  a  matter  of  rule  of  thumb.  Art 
schools  and  technical  schools  have  not  had  much  to  do  with 
the  forming  of  the  staff  of  English  factories,  but  if  the  secure 
possession  of  the  world's  trade  is  a  proof  of  the  superior 
character  of  the  goods,  then  no  one  can  deny  that  skill  is 
inherent  there  which  we  do  not  possess,  and,  moreover, 
neglect  to  acquire  by  proper  training.  The  poverty  of  col- 
oring effects  may  be  due  to  ignorance  as  well  as  to  other 
and  worse  causes.  Corrupt  practices  in  the  buying  of  sup- 
plies, taking  commissions,  etc.,  especially  in  the  dye  depart- 
ment ;  the  consequent  using  of  inferior  dyes  and  supplies, 
and  wastefulness  as  a  general  result,  have  not  infrequently 
been  brought  out  before  the  public  eye  as  the  cause  of  disas- 
ter, or  at  least  serious  losses,  of  manufacturing  corporations. 
At  any  rate,  close  watching  of  all  details  by  a  thoroughly- 
posted  owner  seems  to  be  the  only  reliable  safeguard  against 
these  dangers. 

The  material,  out  of  which  the  leading  officials  of  Ameri- 
can textile  corporations  are  usually  taken,  is  not  apt  to  be 
endowed  with  the  necessary  practical  knowledge. 

The  question  may  here  properly  be  raised  whether  the 
English  system  of  subdivision  of  branches  of  industry,  each 
under  its  own  responsible  management  and  ownership,  is 
not  more  satisfactory  in  the  results,  though  profits  be  saved 
in  the  subdivisions,  and  only  one  general  profit  be  the  charge 
in  the  other  system.  In  machinery  the  English  hold  in  this 
department  a  leading  position,  nor  are  they  afraid  of  expense. 
A  so-called  Scotch  finishing  machine  is  attached  to  a  print- 
ing machine,  prints  and  finishes  the  cloth  in  running  it  over 
hot  rollers  and  folding  it  at  the  same  time.     Other  finishing 


250  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

machinery  shows  equal  perfection.  To  give  description  of 
it  here  would  be  going  too  much  into  details  which  have 
only  technical  interest  We  are  here  only  concerned  in 
results,  and  a  passing  notice  of  the  means  employed  in 
reaching  them  suffices.  The  operations  for  the  higher  finish 
given  to  finer  goods  are  mostly  conducted  by  special  firms. 
They  are  outside  parties,  who  take  the  goods  from  the  print 
houses  and  return  them  when  finished.  The  charge  is  by 
the  yard,  at  a  comparatively  low  rate. 

A  plant  for  finishing  500  pieces  a  day  would  cost  about 
X5,000.  The  finer  the  finish  the  smaller  would  be  the  out- 
put, so  that  a  high  satin  finish,  the  silky  lustre — not  the  one 
applied  by  a  heavy  varnish  of  glue,  as  given  by  our  finish- 
ing concerns — would  only  turn  out  300  pieces  a  day. 

By  pains-taking  and  a  close  attention  to  details  a  stage  of 
perfection  and  results  have  been  reached  by  the  English, 
which  our  system,  in  cotton  goods  at  least,  has  not  yet 
attained.  The  wish  to  make  everything  in  which  the  Eng- 
lish excel  is  a  very  praiseworthy  one,  but  it  is  not  a  suffi- 
cient qualification  for  the  doing,  as  will  be  seen  more  point- 
edly in  other  cotton  manufactures. 

Cotton  Velvets. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  conception  of  the  new  bill,  protec- 
tionists were  satisfied  with  the  claim,  "  Give  our  industries 
protection  until  they  are  firmly  rooted  and  can  stand  alone, 
when  we  shall  gladly  accept  free  trade,  as  it  is  the  only 
rational  end  to  strive  for."  They  could  well  afford  to  be 
generous  in  promises.  To-morrow  is  a  strong  bank  to 
draw  upon,  as  it  will  break  only  when  the  last  to-morrow 
is  reached.  The  people  gave  extensions  willingly,  though 
they  knew  the  day  of  honoring  would  never  come.     But 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  251 

wto  had  ever  heard  this  claim:  "We  have  never  made 
these  goods,  in  fact  no  one  has  ever  attempted  their  manu- 
facture; but  if  jou  put  on  a  duty  of  100  per  cent,  or  double 
a  85  percent,  or  a  40  per  cent,  duty,  we  will  go  to  work  and 
show  the  world  what  we  are  capable  of "  ?  It  required  only 
a  few  yards  of  velvet  and  other  things  of  equal  reality  to  be 
laid  before  the  author  of  the  act,  and  to  him  the  demonstra- 
tion was  complete  and  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  goods 
could  be  produced  in  America  without  limit.  Forthwith  the 
decree  was  passed,  and  millions  of  taxes  were  added  to  the 
consumer's  burdens. 

Cotton  velvet  is  not  an  article  of  luxury.  It  is  a  sightly 
and  dressy  fabric,  serviceable  both  for  dress  and  ornament 
The  working  classes,  especially,  are  large  consumers.  Some 
one  in  Ehode  Island  made  the  statement  that  he  could  very 
well  make  the  velvet,  which  is  now  imported,  and  keep  the 
money  in  the  country,  if  the  duty  were  so  adjusted  that  the 
foreign  goods  could  be  kept  out  The  duty  was  raised, 
actually  more  than  doubled.  This  was  not  done  openly,  but 
by  the  old  trick  of  changing  an  ad  valorem  duty  to  a  specific 
one.  The  duty  was  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  and  was  then 
and  there  changed  to  14  cents  per  square  yard  and  20 
per  cent  ad  valorem.  This  applies  to  colored  and  dyed 
velvets,  etc.  The  rates  on  gray  are  10  cents,  and  on 
bleached  12  cents  per  square  yard  and  20  per  cent 
ad  valorem;  but  none  of  these  are  imported.  Now  14 
cents  per  square  yard  and  20  per  cent  ad  valorem  to  those 
unacquainted  with  the  run  of  prices  does  not  look  materially 
different  from  the  old  rate.  In  answer  to  Senator  Carlisle's 
remark  that  this  change  implied  an  increase  up  to  100  per 
cent.  Senator  Aldrich  stated  that  he  had  sent  to  all  the  re- 
tail stores  in  Washington,  and  had  not  been  able  to  find  any 
velvets  cheaper  than  seventy-five  cents,  hence  there  could  be 


252  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOE  WAGES. 

no  increase.     A  perfectly  logical  demonstration  if  the  im- 
port price  were  anything  like  75  or  60  or  even  50  cents. 

But  the  senator's  premises  were  wrong.  The  Washing- 
ton retail  stores  are  not  the  best  sources  of  information  on 
the  country's  import  trade.  The  great  importing  houses  of 
New  York  volunteered  information  gratis,  as  the  senator 
knows.  I  obtained  from  one  of  the  principal  importers  a 
copy  of  an  importation  order,  which  may  serve  as  illustra- 
tive of  nearly  all  our  importations.  I  will  copy  it  here  and 
give  alongside  the  ad  valorem  equivalent  of  the  present  com- 
pound duty  : 

Colored  Velvet.  Width,  in.  Price.  Duty,  Per  Cent. 

8,500  pieces.  18  5\d.  88 

1,000     "  19  TK  70 

315     "  23  9K  69 


4,815  pieces. 

Black  Velvet. 

1,600  pieces. 

18 

^a. 

102* 

800     " 

18 

A\d. 

92 

400     " 

18 

5d. 

90 

400     " 

19i 

Sid. 

92 

560     " 

m 

aid. 

82 

400     " 

m 

7i(f. 

77 

160     •• 

2U 

8(2. 

72 

120     " 

2U 

9d. 

66i 

40     " 

m 

eid. 

m 

40     " 

21i 

10  d. 

m 

4,520  pieces. 

In  an  importation  order  of  9,835  pieces,  7,260  pieces  pay 
duties  between  82  and  102  per  cent,  ad  valorem^  against  a 
former  40  per  cent;  1,875  pieces  between  69  and  77  per  cent., 
and  only  200  pieces  between  61|^  and  66  per  cent  As  pack- 
ing charges  are  made  dutiable  under  the  new  law,  they  add 
something  like  2^  per  cent,  more  to  the  duty. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  253 

The  lower  quality  black  velvet  under  the  old  law  and 
uuder  the  new  law  would  stand  the  wholesale  buyer  as  fol- 
lows: 

Old  TariflE.  New  Tariff. 

Cents.  Cents. 

Cost,  4i<Z 8.50  8.50 

Boxes,  commission  and  freight 1.60  1.60 

Duty,  40  per  cent 3.40  Duty,  105  per  cent.,  9,00 

Cash  discount,  7  per  cent 1.10  1.60 

Importer's  profit 1.60  3.30 

Total 16.20  23.00 

Add  25  per  cent,  to  cover  retailer's 
profit 4.05  5.75 

And  we  have  a  total  of 20.24  against  38.75 

or  a  charge  over  the  old  duty  of  8.50  cents  on  the  lowest 
quality  of  velvet  by  the  time  the  consumer  gets  hold  of  it 
in  the  most  direct  way — an  extra  charge,  due  to  the  tariff 
increase,  equal  to  the  price  at  whicli  the  goods  are  put  on 
board  ship  in  England.  But  velvets  go  mostly  through 
more  than  one  hand.  They  are  distributed  through  jobbers 
to  country  dealers,  or  are  converted  into  other  articles  of 
manufacture,  and  it  would  be  a  fair  estimate  to  say  that  the 
bulk  of  these  goods  cost  fully  10  cents  a  yard  more  to  the 
masses  than  this  eight- and-a-half-cent  velvet  would  have  cost 
them  under  the  old  40  per  cent.  duty.  Some  people  are  silly 
enough  to  maintain,  and  some  are  sillier  yet  and  believe, 
that  the  foreigner  pays  the  duty.  This  example  is  intro- 
duced to  demonstrate  ad  oculos  who  pays  the  duty,  the 
increased  duty,  plus  profits  on  duties  and  charges  paid  to 
the  importers,  dealers,  manufacturers,  and  middlemen,  who 
make  themselves  useful  to  the  public  as  distributors  of  this 
fabric. 

Now  all  this  has  been  done  because  of  tbe  assurance  given 


254  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH    WAGES. 

bj  a  few  claimants  that  velvets  could  be  produced  as  good 
as  the  English  goods,  if  the  duty  were  raised  high  enough. 
What  "  high  enough  "  means  has  been  shown.  We  have  not 
heard  anything  of  American  velvets  since  the  increase  was 
engineered  through,  though  the  law  is  in  force  for  nearly 
two  years.  For  very  good  reasons  we  shall  not  hear  of 
them  again.  The  manufacture  of  velvets  is  one  of  the  most 
difficult  processes  of  all  textile  industry.  In  cotton  velvets 
England  is  unapproached  by  Germany  or  any  other  country. 
The  dye  and  finish  of  English  goods  alone  are  something  to 
which  all  users  of  these  fabrics  will  attest  superiority.  I 
know  this  by  my  own  business  experience.  Bat  this  is 
only  the  final  stage.  Before  we  get  to  this  the  yarn,  the 
w^eaving,  and  pile  cutting  have  to  be  considered.  In  the 
two  former  we  are  deficient;  in  the  last  process,  and  the 
most  important  and  difficult  one,  we  are  entirely  ignorant. 
It  is  all  done  by  hand.  The  goods  are  stretched  on  a  frame 
some  eight  to  twelve  yards  long,  and  the  cutter  walks  up 
and  down  the  frame  cutting  the  pile  with  a  knife.  An  un- 
skilled handling  of  the  knife  would  spoil  the  goods.  The 
work  is  distributed  all  over  the  country,  to  towns  as  far  as 
thirty  miles  from  Manchester.  Towns  near  the  Stafford- 
shire potteries,  especially  Congleton,  are  extensively  engaged 
in  velvet  cutting. 

The  wages  are  extremely  low.  Special  skill  and  very 
dexterous  work  are  necessary  to  enable  the  workman  to 
earn  12s.  to  18s.  Girls  and  women,  also  largely  engaged  in 
this  work,  earn  less  than  that.  The  employment  of  ma- 
chinery was  talked  about  at  the  time  of  the  new  tariff 
enactment.  If  we  had  special  machinery  which  could  do 
the  work,  we  should  be  far  ahead  of  England.  But 
England  seems  to  know  something  about  machinery  in 
velvet  cutting.     It  is  a  near  relation  to  the  Keely  motor 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  255 

— full  of  promise  of  a  great  future,  but  never  success- 
fully worked.  Many  inventions  have  been  tried,  but  none 
has  proved  satisfactory.  I  have  it  stated  from  manufacturers 
that  the  chief  difficulty  has  always  been  the  pile  being 
burnt  wherever  machines,  by  no  means  new  inventions, 
have  been  tried. 

These  considerations  should  satisfy  any  one  that  cotton 
velvets  cannot  be  an  article  of  manufacture  in  this  country, 
and  no  duty  increase  can  make  them  so.  We  may  take  this 
as  an  illustration  of  the  way  the  late  tariff  act  was  pre- 
pared, when  any  one  who  wanted  an  increase  even  for  ex- 
perimenting had  only  to  step  forward  and  ask  for  it.  The 
greater  the  lump  the  surer  the  grant.  The  only  thing  re- 
fused with  scorn  was  a  demand  for  lightening  tariff  duties. 
The  claimants  made  good  use  of  the  goldpn  opportunity. 

Cotton  Hosiery. 

Cotton  hose  rank  with  velvet  as  objects  of  criticism  in 
the  recent  tariff  legislation.  In  order  to  understand  fully 
the  wanton  character  of  the  proceeding,  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  the  character  of  the  hose  we  manufacture  and  of 
that  which  we  import.  The  two  do  not  at  all  interfere  with 
one  another.  In  times  past,  happily  for  the  wearer's  sake, 
the  goods  were  cut  out  of  the  piece  and  sewed  together. 
They  were  clumsy,  ill-fitting  abominations.  We  make  now 
an  entirely  different  class  of  goods— mostly  men's  half  hose, 
and  a  small  quantity  of  ladies'  hose.  They  are  full  knit 
on  knitting  machines,  of  heavy  yarn,  very  serviceable, 
though  they  could  be  improved  in  make  and  character  all 
around.  Labor  does  not  need  protection  in  this  class  of 
goods,  neither  do  the  goods.  I  have  taken  the  account  of  a 
knitting  mill.     These  are  the  figures : 


256  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

Ladies'  Hose. 

2i  pounds  of  yarn,  @  20  cents  per  pound $0.45 

Knitting  cost 23 

General  labor 10 

General  expense 12 

6  per  cent,  discount 07 

6  per  cent,  commission 07 

Total %IM 

Selling  price 1.20 

Men's  Half  Hose. 

26  ounces  of  yarn,  @  17  cents  per  pound $0.27 

Knitting 17 

General  labor 08 

General  expense 10 

6  per  cent,  discount 05 

6  per  cent,  commission 05 

Total $0. 73 

Selling  price 80 

This  class  of  goods  is  our  main  product,  and  the  tarifi 
was  not  increased  on  their  account.  But  we  import  some 
five  million  dollars'  worth  of  cotton  hose  and  half  hose,  which 
somebody  seems  to  have  convinced  Mr.  McKinley  could  be 
made  here  if  the  duty  were  doubled.  These  importations 
are  full-fashioned  goods,  made  on  frames,  and  sewed  to- 
gether— so-called  seamless  hose,  with  flat,  even  seams  with- 
out any  ridges.  Heels  and  toes  are  doubled,  and  in  the 
half  hose  the  elastic  part  being  separately  knit  and  after- 
ward knitted  on  makes  a  close,  even  fit  and  appearance,  in- 
stead of  the  somewhat  raw  and  ruffled  looks  of  the  elastic 
end  of  the  article  mentioned  above.  The  people  who  buy 
the  imported  article  are  not  of  the  well-to-do  classes  exclu- 
sively. All  classes  buy  them,  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich ; 
all  who  desire  fine,  even-yarn  goods,  well  shaped,  and  fitting 
the  foot  well,  in  color  effects  pleasing  the  ej^e,  and  answer- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH    WAGES.  257 

ing  a  somewhat  subtler  taste.  But  thej  are  to  be  prevented 
from  doing  so  hereafter,  bj  making  the  lower  grades  so  high 
bj  tariffs,  that  by  excluding  the  foreign  they  will  be  kept 
more  strictly  to  the  American  article. 

The  prices  at  which  goods  having  all  these  requisites  are 
produced,  principally  in  the  Chemnitz  district,  are  so  low 
that  even  with  a  40  per  cent,  duty  they  remained  an  article 
of  large  consumption.  We  have  never  made  these  goods, 
and,  what  is  more,  could  not  make  them  if  the  duty  were 
trebled.  But  some  manufacturers  seem  to  feel  that  no 
foreign  goods,  be  they  ever  so  different,  but  interfering  in 
price,  at  least,  with  their  goods,  ought  to  be  brought  to  this 
country.  Hence  they  claimed,  and  easily  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining, a  specific  duty  additional  to  the  ad  valorem  rate. 
Goods  in  the  lower  price-range  pay  as  high  as  80  per  cent, 
now,  while  the  average  duty  amounts  to  65  per  cent, 
against  the  old  40  per  cent.  The  importations  continue, 
however.  They  are  as  extensive  as  ever,  if  we  take  into 
account  the  increase  in  1890  and  1891.  Both  years  show 
abnormal  figures,  expected  increase  in  duty  having  been 
anticipated  in  increased  importations.  The  year  1889  is 
better  fitted  for  comparison.  The  year  shows  in  all  kinds 
of  cotton  hosiery  $6,300,000.  The  eleven  months  for  the 
fiscal  year  of  1891-92,  of  which  reports  are  just  published, 
show  $5,500,000,  with  the  month  of  July  added,  on  the  basis 
of  last  year's  figures  (over  $600,000),  then  certainly  the 
normal  importations  continue,  undisturbed  by  our  fostered 
home  industries.  The  additional  duties  will  be  borne  by  the 
consumer  without  even  the  solace  which  the  consciousness 
of  contributing  to  a  patriotic  duty  would  give  him. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Futility  of  attempting  Industrial  Creations  by  Protective  Tariffs  when 
Natural  Conditions  are  wanting  — Flax  Cultivation  and  Linen  Manu- 
facturing.— Cotton  Embroideries  and  Laees  classed  under  Linen  for 
Tariff  Increase. — Reasons  why  they  cannot  be  produced  here. 

The  cultivation  of  flax  for  the  fibre  and  the  manufacture 
of  linen  are  bj  no  means  infant  industries.  The  old  mum- 
mies unearthed  after  6,000  years  are  wrapped  in  linen. 
Babylonia  carried  on  an  extensive  trade  in  linen  fabrics  cen- 
turies before  Herodotus  chronicled  the  fact.  Tacitus  tells 
us  of  the  ancient  Germans  being  clad  in  linen,  and  away  into 
the  Middle  Ages  linen  tunics  and  sheepskins  were  the  chief 
articles  of  clothing  of  the  peasantry.  The  lake  dwellers, 
too,  were  acquainted  with  the  cultivation  of  flax  and  the 
use  of  the  fibre  for  weaving  into  garments  on  their  crude 
looms,  as  any  one  can  see  for  himself  if  he  visits  the  mu- 
seum at  Zurich.  This  takes  us  back  to  the  first  beginnings 
of  civilization.  The  serviceability  of  the  fibre  as  a  suit- 
able material  for  dress  must  have  impressed  itself  upon 
primitive  man.  There  are  valid  reasons  for  the  assumption 
that  flax  was  the  first  fibre  used  in  the  preparation  of  arti- 
ficial dress  when  stone  and  wood  were  the  only  materials 
out  of  which  his  rude  implements  were  wrought.  Hence, 
the  cultivation  of  the  fibre  and  its  manufacture  cannot  be 
reasonably  called  infant  industries. 

Nor  can  they  be  be  called  so  in  America.  The  North  of 
Ireland  Scotch  Presbyterians  are  the  principal  cultivators 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH    WAGES.  259 

of  flax  in  Ireland.  We  know  wbat  a  large  percentage  of 
our  early  settlers  they  were,  and  how  well  they  returned  in 
the  War  of  Independence  the  injuries  which  England  had 
inflicted  upon  them,  and  which  had  driven  them  over  to 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Before  the  spread  of  cotton  manufacturing,  pretty  nearly 
all  the  "linen"  was  made  of  flax  spun  and  woven  in  the 
homes  of  the  people.  Necessity  does  not  wait  for  govern- 
ment to  protect  and  to  guide,  but  makes  use  of  the  most 
serviceable  means  for  supplying  wants.  It  is  different 
when,  as  now,  commerce  carries  to  the  remotest  hamlets 
■whatever  can  be  more  profitabl}^  bought  than  produced  by 
the  exertions  of  the  people.  By  natural  selection,  so  to 
speak,  gradually  the  fittest  occupation  of  the  individual  has 
become  the  surviving  employment  out  of  the  manifold  and 
almost  unlimited  industrial  occupations  which  our  early 
ancestors  practiced  by  compulsion.  Consequently,  all  these 
questions  of  occupation  become  questions  of  competition  of 
employment,  expressed  in  three  words :  "  Does  it  pay  ?  " 
From  this  standpoint  alone  can  we  consider  these  questions, 
not  from  that  of  mock  patriotism,  which  only  means  serving 
a  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many. 

To  properly  see  this  in  relation  to  the  flax  fibre  it  is 
necessary  to  examine  the  processes  from  the  time  of  growth 
to  the  procuring  of  the  pure  fibre.  The  difficulties  are 
many.  At  the  start  it  is  well  to  say  that  moist  and  moder- 
ate climates  are  best  suited  for  the  cultivation.  The  flax 
must  have  time  to  grow  and  mature  in  the  stalk.  It  must 
be  pulled  at  the  proper  time,  before  the  seed  has  ripened. 
Hence,  flax  cultivated  for  the  seed  is  not  suitable  for  textile 
purposes.  The  fierce  summer  heat  quickly  following  in 
America  the  long  and  severe  winter  makes  the  plant  shoot 
up  quickly  to  great  height,  thereby  weakening  the  fibre. 


260  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

This  statement  does  not  at  all  become  vitiated  bj  the  fact 
that  we  have  grown  flax  in  the  time  when  we  made  our  own 
linen.  It  is  one  thing  to  grow  flax  for  home  purposes, 
spinning  and  weaving  it  at  the  fireside,  far  awaj  from  the 
roads  of  commerce,  and  quite  another  to  have  the  power 
mill  manufacture  for  us,  able  to  choose  the  best  suitable 
raw  material  from  all  the  climes  of  the  globe  at  a  mere 
nominal  transportation  expense. 

Not  only  is  a  proper,  heavy  soil  required,  but  also  an 
unremittent  care  is  necessary  from  the  time  the  flax  gets 
ready  to  be  pulled.  When  it  has  attained  the  proper  height 
(three  to  four  feet)  it  is  pulled  by  the  root  The  root  ends 
must  be  even,  the  stalks  parallel  and  of  equal  length.  Then 
the  process  of  retting  the  flax  takes  place.  Though  other 
methods  are  in  use,  water  retting  is  the  only  one  giving 
satisfactory  results,  and  therefore  still  generally  applied  to 
freeing  the  fibre  from  the  resinous  substance  of  the  stalk. 
For  the  steeping,  a  pure,  soft  water  is  required,  free  from 
iron,  lime,  or  any  mineral  substance  which  might  affect  the 
color  or  the  tenacity  of  the  fibre.  The  flax  is  tied  up  in 
bundles  and  immersed  upright  in  ponds  built  four  feet  deep, 
after  which  the  process  of  fermentation  begins.  This  takes 
about  ten  or  twelve  days  till  complete.  During  the  steeping 
the  stalks  must  be  examined  frequently,  and  when  ready  for 
the  purpose  must  be  spread  evenly  on  grassy  meadows,  fre- 
quently turned  and  watched  so  as  not  to  miss  the  proper 
time  for  the  gathering.  Great  care  has  to  be  taken  in  all 
these  operations.  Neglect  in  either  of  them  makes  a  great 
difference  in  the  value  of  the  flax.  Twenty-four  hoars  of 
inattention  may  destroy  the  expected  profit  of  a  whole 
season's  work. 

Now,  besides  the  toilsomeness  of  all  these  operations,  there 
is  not  a  little  unwholesomeness  connected  with  the  proper 


THE  ECONOMY  OP  HIGH   WAGES.  261 

management  of  flax  cultivation.  Standing  in  water  away 
above  the  knees,  and  the  endurance  of  the  malodorous  smell 
which  the  rotting  stalks  spread  about,  are  some  of  the  incon- 
veniences. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  will  be  seen  that  much  toil 
and  small  compensation  would  be  the  result  to  the  farmer. 
Flax  cultivation  is  incompatible  with  our  sjstenas  of  exten- 
sive cultivation  of  land,  the  only  one  suitable  where  human 
labor  is  scarce  and  land  is  in  plenty.  What  gives  the  greatest 
results  with  the  smallest  amount  of  labor  here  becomes  choice 
and  necessity.  Hence  so  many  industries  are  left  untouched, 
although  they  would  give  splendid  results,  according  to 
book  farmers  and  political  tinsmiths  and  political  weavers, 
if  our  farmers  only  could  be  brought  to  do  this  thing,  that 
thing,  or  the  other  thing.  Cultivation  of  flax  for  the  seed 
pays  them  well ;  cultivation  of  flax  for  the  fibre  does  not 
pay  them  under  conditions  prevailing  and  illustrated.  So 
long  as  labor  is  left  free  to  choose  its  occupations  it  will 
certainly  take  up  what  is  most  remunerative  and  what  is 
most  inviting,  and  refuse  to  be  lured  into  the  other  alterna- 
tive. The  views  here  expressed  are  supported  by  the  fact 
that  even  European  countries  like  Ireland  and  Germany, 
countries  where  small  culture  and  the  cheapness  and  abun- 
dance of  farm  labor  conspire  to  make  the  industry  a  perma- 
nent resident,  recede  more  and  more  as  producers,  and  leave 
the  honors  to  Russia,  which  now  produces  two-thirds  of  all 
the  flax  fibre  of  Europe.  Germany,  some  twenty  years  ago, 
had  over  200,000  hectares  (about  600,000  acres)  under  flax, 
but  has  now  not  more  than  half  that  number.  Ireland  in 
1867  had  253,257  acres  under  flax;  in  1884,  only  89,225 
acres ;  in  1889,  there  were  107,000  acres. 

Nor  is  the  yield,  after  all  the  hardship  the  cultivator  has 
to  endure,  so  very  dazzling.     Some  300  to  400  pounds  of 


262  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

fibre  to  an  acre,  according  to  the  years,  is  tlie  product  in 
Ireland,  and  less  in  Russia,  The  yield  here  would  certainly 
not  be  as  high  as  in  Ireland.  The  highly  superior  Irish 
flax  is  landed  here  at  tinder  ten  cents  a  pound.  Our  inferior 
growth  would  bring  to  the  farmer  not  more  than  seven  cents, 
perhaps.  A  not  very  alluring  prospect,  considering  all  the 
hardships  and  risks  of  flax  culture  for  the  fibre. 

Linen  Manufacturers. 

Probably  in  order  to  make  the  increase  of  duty  by  the 
recent  act  on  household  linen  (from  35  per  cent  the  old,  to 
50  per  cent  the  new)  more  palatable  to  the  farmer,  the 
argument  was  most  liberally  used  that  an  encouragement  of 
the  linen  industry  by  the  increase  of  duty  would  benefit 
him  enormously.  A  market  for  his  -flax  would  thus  be 
opened  which  he  could  not  obtain  otherwise.  At  the  most 
superficial  examination,  this  promise  cannot  be  meant 
seriously.  Nothing  interfered  heretofore  with  the  use  of 
American  flax.  But  the  flax  raised  went  into  the  rope- 
making  mills,  and  hardly  a  pound  of  it  into  the  linen  facto- 
ries or  the  yarn  mills.  Will  a  higher  rate  of  duty  on  linen 
make  the  flax  more  valuable  to  those  manufacturing  the 
higher  grades  when  it  is  rejected  on  account  of  its  unser- 
viceability  in  the  commonest  grades  ?  The  question  hardly 
needs  answering.  It  answers  itsell  There  is  no  market 
for  American  flax  in  American  mills  at  the  present  time, 
and  it  is  not  a  desirable  consummation  that  there  should 
ever  be,  considering  all  the  changes  in  the  farmer's  condition 
this  would  imply. 

But  our  linen  industry  has  never,  during  the  whole  period 
of  war-tariff  legislation  and  protection  inebriety,  gone 
beyond  the  crash  stage.     We  have  never  been  able  to  make 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  263 

anything  above  common  crashes,  in  the  production  of  which 
the  character  and  color  of  the  fibre,  the  bleaching  and 
finishing,  play  no  such  important  part  as  in  the  higher 
numbers.  And  even  here,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
concerns  backed  by  the  wealth  of  their  owners,  the  crash 
came  back  to  roost  in  the  other  sense  of  the  word.  Many 
hundred  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  sunk  in  unsuccess- 
ful efforts,  and  failure  is  the  general  verdict  of  history.  If 
this  is  the  experience  in  the  most  rudimentary  lines,  the 
coarsest  linens,  what  can  be  expected  when  we  touch  the 
damask  and  finer  linens — up  to  one  hundred  threads  to 
the  square  inch,  which  the  new  law  assumes  as  the  limit  of 
ability  of  our  manufacturers  ?  To  any  one  knowing  the 
requirements  of  successful  linen  manufacturing,  the  pro- 
ceeding seems  so  absurd  that  it  becomes  almost  impossible 
to  speak  of  it  in  serious  terms.  Not  alone  the  external,  but 
the  internal  conditions  are  wanting.  The  dryness  of  the 
atmosphere,  the  cold  winters,  the  parching  heat  of  summer, 
the  absence  of  skilled  help  and  capable  technical  manage- 
ment, except  of  foreign  adventurers  trading  on  the  ignor- 
ance of  mill  owners  and  capitalists — all  these  are  so  many 
drawbacks,  and  very  seriously  interfere  with  spinning, 
weaving,  and  bleaching  operations.  The  arguments  ad- 
vanced by  would-be  manufacturers  and  their  advocates 
show  that  they  are  utterly  unacquainted  with  the  manu- 
facture of  any  kind  but  political  linen.  The  new  tax  is 
laid  on  the  people.  They  will  have  to  pay  some  millions 
more  a  year.  But  the  manufacture  of  fine  linen  will  remain, 
as  before,  a  matter  of  longing.  The  few  yards  of  linen  pro- 
duced before  Mr.  McKinley  and  his  committee  in  demonstra- 
tion of  what  could  be  done  if  the  duty  were  raised  "  high 
enough"  will  be  the  last  we  shall  see  of  American  linen  of 
a  higher  grade  than  crash  linen. 


264  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HlOU  WAGES. 

Cotton  Embroideries,  Cotton  Lace. 

Increasing  duties  bv  a  change  of  classifications  is  a  trick. 
The  law  here  does  covertly  what  the  authors  have  not  the 
courage  to  openly  promulgate.  Otherwise  why  should 
cotton  embroidery  and  cotton  lace  be  brought  in  under  the 
caption  of  flax  and  manufactures  ?  But  so  the  law  decrees. 
A  sweep  of  the  pen  could  thus  raise  duties  formerly  40  per 
cent,  to  60  per  cent,  which  is  the  new  duty  on  all  em- 
broidery or  laces,  whether  of  cotton  or  flax.  "  They  are 
articles  of  luxury."  By  no  means.  Some  $10,000,000 
worth  are  imported  annually.  Cotton  lace,  lace  curtains, 
etc.,  are  bought  by  the  lowest  wage  earners,  as  well  as  by 
the  farming  and  middle  classes.  Cotton  embroidery  has 
become  an  article  of  immense  consumption  since  the 
so-called  Swiss  machine  has  pushed  aside  the  human  hand — 
the  machine  of  former  times.  The  cheapening  has  gone  on 
from  year  to  year  in  Switzerland  and  the  Saxon  district 
about  Plauen.  The  result  is  a  consumption  more  than 
double  that  of  a  dozen  years  ago.  But  cheapness  is  a 
curse,  according  to  Mr.  Harrison,  Mr.  McKinley,  and  others 
of  the  protectionist  creed,  a  curse  which  has  to  be  counter- 
acted by  legislation.  Those  who  have  to  support  a  family 
on  $1  to  $1.25  a  day,  and  they  compose  a  good  majority  of 
our  people,  begin  to  appreciate  the  Republican  axiom, 

"  Yes,  but  we  can  make  them  here  and  establish  a  new 
industry."  Fortunately  I  happen  to  know  something  about 
machine  embroidering  in  this  country  from  personal  experi- 
ence. There  were  brought  here  from  Switzerland  in  the 
course  of  j;en  to  twelve  years  some  two  to  three  hundred 
embroidering  machines.  They  are  employed  mostly  on  silk 
embroidery,  fancy  trimmings,  embroidering  of  robes  in  silk 
and  wool.     Most  of  the  work  could  be  imported,  duty  paid, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  "  265 

and  sold  cheaper  than  the  American  work  on  which  they 
are  employed.  But  a  very  strong  protection  of  home 
industries  exists,  which  is  not  found  in  the  statute  book. 
This  is  protection  in  the  supplying  of  immediate  demands 
by  the  agencies  in  touch  with  the  variable  tastes  of  this 
country.  The  risks  of  importations  in  such  fancies  are 
immense  and  powerful  deterrents.  Some  six  or  eight  years 
ago,  when  embroidered  cashmere  robes  were  in  fashion,  the 
early  importations  were  bought  eagerly.  The  machines  in 
the  country  were  kept  busy  to  the  utmost.  Second  impor- 
tation orders  became  out  of  date,  and  a  good  many  were 
brought  over  and  had  to  be  sold  and  slaughtered  in  the 
auction  rooms.  The  home  machines,  feeling  the  pulse  of 
demand,  could  easily  be  shifted  to  other  work ;  the  foreign 
goods  had  to  carry  the  fall  loss  under  the  whims  of  fickle 
Dame  Fashion. 

The  men  working  these  Swiss  machines  are  all  brought 
over  from  Switzerland.  The  machine  is  expensive  and 
requires  careful  and  experienced  tending.  In  Switzerland 
some  30,000  machines  are  employed.  The  work  is  paid  on 
the  stitch  basis.  Competition  has  brought  down  the  rate  of 
pay  to  so  low  a  point  that  3f.  a  day  would  express  a  fair 
average  of  earnings.  Yet  I  remember  that,  although  the 
earnings  of  the  embroiderers  were  as  high  as  $15  and  even 
$20  a  week,  it  was  difficult  to  resist  their  demand  for  higher 
pay  whenever  they  felt  their  work  was  more  in  demand 
than  ordinarily.  It  is  a  common  experience  that  labor 
brought  over  from  abroad  for  special  pursuits  is  -far  more 
intractable  than  American  labor,  whether  of  native  origin 
or  of  foreign,  but,  by  long  contact,  imbued  with  American 
ideas.  This  is  matter  for  serious  consideration  in  more 
ways  than  one.  I  cannot  enlarge  on  it  here.  In  "  cotton 
embroideries  "  it  is  a  very  formidable  factor. 


266  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES. 

There  is  no  risk  attached  to  the  importation  of  white  cotton 
embroideries.  Were  there  no  other  obstacles  in  the  way,  it 
can  be  seen  that  we  cannot  possibly  engage  in  this  new 
"infant  industry,"  even  under  a  60  per  cent.  duty.  But 
there  are  other  obstacles.  The  cloth  and  the  cotton  for 
embroidery  are  about  40  per  cent,  higher  than  in  Switzer- 
land, all  for  the  glorification  of  protection,  which,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  takes  away  with  one  hand  what  it  gives  with  the 
other.  The  materials  on  which  these  embroideries  are  made 
are  sheerer  and  finer  than  oar  general  line  of  goods.  They 
do  not  cost  very  much  more  to  produce,  at  least  not  in  the 
lower  class  of  prices,  than  English  goods,  but  are  sold  nearly 
up  to  the  foreign  price  plus  the  duty,  although  inferior  in 
character  and  finish.  *  The  final  finishing  is  a  matter  of 
no  small  importance,  but  I  will  waive  it  as  one  of  the 
things  attainable  by  study  and  application.  The  other 
objections  must  convince  everybody,  outside  of  a  small 
charmed  circle,  that  we  are  not  able  to  produce  these  goods 
on  commercial  principles. 

The  same  strictures,  somewhat  modified,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  branches,  apply  to  cotton  laces  and  to  cotton 
lace  curtains.  The  raising  of  the  duties  on  these  articles  of 
large  consumption  by  the  poorer  classes  a  full  50  per  cent. 
is  almost  incomprehensible,  even  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
new  departure  in  protectionism  under  the  McKinley  act 
Here  certainly  no  claims  worth  considering  could  have 
been  brought  forward  that  an  industry  "  could  be  established  " 

*  The  English  and  Swiss  manufacturers  use  almost  entirely  Egyptian 
cotton  for  their  fine  yarn  goods.  It  makes  an  even  thread,  shown  in  the 
absence  of  knots  and  uneven  places  so  abundant  in  the  American  goods 
intended  to  replace  the  former.  Self-sufficiency,  negligent  and  wasteful, 
opens  the  back-door,  while  protectionism  anxiously  keeps  guarding  the 
gate. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  267 

under  the  plea  dealt  with  before.  That  an  increase  in  duty 
means  an  increase  in  the  selling  price  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  the  importer's  selling  price  of  the  franc  under  the 
old  tariff  was  30  cents  less  7  per  cent,  cash  discount,  and 
under  the  new  tariff  is  36  cents  with  the  discount  The 
consumer,  of  course,  pays  a  greater  diflference  still,  as 
demonstrated  in  our  cotton  velvet  example. 

Embroidered    and    Hemstitched    Handkerchiefs. 

That  we  make  no  embroidered  or  hemstitched  handker- 
chiefs of  linen  in  this  country  need  hardly  be  stated.  That 
we  cannot  make  them,  even  with  the  60  per  cent,  protection 
so  lavishly  dealt  out  by  Mr.  McKinley  in  place  of  the  former 
80  per  cent,  on  embroidered  and  35  per  cent,  on  other  linen 
handkerchiefs,  hardly  needs  emphasizing  after  what  has 
been  said  above.  All  who  have  used  linen  handkerchiefs 
will  have  either  to  pay  the  increased  price,  or  confine  them- 
selves henceforth  to  the  use  of  American  cotton  handker- 
chiefs. The  makers  of  these  did  not  feel  themselves  able  to 
prevent  the  importation  of  foreign  linen  at  30  and  35  per 
cent,  and  of  cotton  embroidered  hemstitched  handkerchiefs, 
neither  of  which  they  can  produce.  Nor  can  they  prevent 
it  now.  But  with  them  any  exclusion,  by  whatever  cause, 
is  considered  equivalent  to  an  extension  of  market  for  their 
quite  inferior  goods. 

The  finer,  sheerer  goods  used  in  Switzerland  and  Ireland 
for  cotton  handkerchiefs,  embroidered  and  hemstitched,  are 
seldom  employed  in  handkerchief  making  here.  The  class 
of  goods  made  here  is  of  a  rougher  sort.  The  hemstitching 
in  Ireland  is  done  by  machinery  now,  and  the  goods  are 
woven  so  as  to  leave  the  threads  open  where  the  stitching  is 
to  run  in,  which  makes  this  operation  one  of  trifling  oost. 


268  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Our  goods  do  not  show  that  even  the  manufacturers  possess 
the  best  machinery  for  hemstitching,  employed  on  the  other 
side.  The  finishing  and  doing  up  also  leave  much  to  be 
desired.  The  increase  of  duty  here  shows  most  plainly  the 
object  of  the  new  tariff  to  saddle  the  consumer  with  high 
taxes  so  as  to  give  a  greater  margin  of  profit  and  room  for  ex- 
perimenting to  the  makers  of  a  very  inferior  class  of  goods. 

It  is  not  likely  that  American  industries  will  be  benefited 
much  by  this  sort  of  legerdemain  tariff  increase  in  cotton 
embroideries,  cotton  lace,  cotton  lace  curtains,  and  embroid- 
ered and  hemstitched  handkerchiefs.  Our  importations  in 
1890  were  $13,000,000.  The  people  will  pay  on  these  here- 
after some  $8,000,000  duty,  or  nearly  $3,000,000  more  than 
formerly,  with  not  even  the  semblance  of  a  showing  that 
any  existing  (or  even  prospective)  industries  will  be  bene- 
fited, except  in  paltry  and  insignificant  ways.  On  the  con- 
trary, many  industries  are  injured  by  the  high  rates  wan- 
tonly imposed  on  articles  that  cannot  possibly  be  produced 
here.  Branches  of  magnitude  in  America,  which  in  Ger- 
many and  England  work  largely  for  export,  in  which  we 
show  superior  capacity,  could  be  profitably  extended  and 
their  products  exported  but  for  these  duties.  In  these  em- 
ployment could  be  found  for  ten  times  the  labor  that  will 
ever  be  employed  in  the  additional  manufacture  encouraged 
by  the  increase  of  duty  on  cotton  embroidery  and  cotton 
lace  and  kindred  goods. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  an  amount  of  ignorance  on  the 
one  hand  and  recklessness  on  the  other  has  been  displayed 
in  the  formulating  of  new  tariff  provisions,  which  can  only 
be  explained  by  the  fact,  patent  to  all,  that  the  makers  of  the 
law  had  only  political  ends  in  view,  and  that  their  considera- 
tions for  the  industries  of  the  country  were  conditional  on 
the  latter,  serving  these  ends. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Science  and  Skill  in  Manufacturing  Industries. — Silk  Manufacturing, — 
Lyons  and  Paterson  compared. — Labor  Cost  about  Equal. — Superi- 
ority of  Lyons  Goods. — Lower  Cost  due  to  other  Causes  than  Differ- 
ences in  Labor. 

The  powerful  effect  whicli  science  exercises  on  prices, 
along  with  the  skill  of  the  workpeople,  is  well  demonstrated 
by  the  silk  industry  as  conducted  in  the  representative 
centres  of  Europe  and  America.  Here  we  can  show  most 
distinctly  the  popular  fallacy  that  the  lower  rate  of  per  diem 
wages  causes  the  difference  in  prices,  which  is  so  manifest  in 
the  fabrics  of  the  two  countries.  To  do  this  with  full  clear- 
ness, we  have  to  follow  the  industry  from  the  fibre  to  the  fin- 
ished fabric. 

Silk  is  a  tender  tiny  thread  as  reeled  from  the  cocoon. 
Perhaps  for  this  reason  it  has  at  all  times  been  considered 
a  fit  subject  of  government's  protecting  hand.  From  the 
time  the  first  eggs  were  brought  from  China  to  Europe  by 
Byzantine  monks,  governments  have  been  anxious  to  provide 
hospitable  homes,  even  under  unfriendly  skies.  The  worm, 
however,  obstinately  refused  to  prosper,  except  in  Southern 
France  and  in  Northern  Italy.  In  America  early  attempts 
were  made.  The  kings,  from  the  Stuarts  down  to  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  spent  much  money  and  offered  prizes  to 
encourage  the  cultivation  of  silk.  The  legislatures  and  col- 
onies followed  in  the  wake  of  royalty,  and  left  no  attempts 
untried  to  get  the  people  to  leave  or  neglect  remunerative 


270  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

occupations  and  turn  to  the  raising  of  silkworms,  despite 
repeated  experience  of  barren  results. 

Attempts  in  the  same  direction  were"  not  given  up, 
though.  The  legislature  of  California,  a  State  whose  cli- 
mate is  eminently  fitted  for  the  successful  breeding  of  silk- 
worms, early  passed  a  law  offering  a  bounty  of  $300  for 
every  100,000  cocoons  raised,  and  one  of  $250  for  every 
5,000  mulberry-trees  planted.  The  results  did  not  prove 
more  satisfactory  than  in  colonial  times,  and  the  law  was 
soon  repealed.  Agriculturists  do  not  seem  to  take  kindly 
to  silk  raising  for  the  same  reasons  that  they  do  not  take 
kindly  to  flax  raising.  They  seem  to  think  that  their  labor 
can  be  more  profitably  employed  than  in  the  rearing  of  silk- 
worms and  cocoons  in  opposition  to  Chinese,  Japanese, 
Hindu,  and  South  of  Europe  labor.  "Were  it  not  for  this 
emphatic  refusal  of  our  rural  classes  to  have  themselves 
cajoled  into  silk  raising,  even  by  the  aid  of  government 
bounties,  we  might  now  have  a  duty  of  some  25  or  50  per 
cent,  on  raw  silk  to  pay,  and  thereby  have  prevented  the 
growth  of  an  industry  which  gives  employment  to  far  more 
hands  in  a  year  than  could  have  found  profitable  employ- 
ment in  the  raising  of  the  raw  material  in  a  lifetime. 

The  industry  is  a  most  important  educational  lever  when 
properly  conducted,  and  for  this  alone  would  deserve  the 
most  serious  consideration.  It  repays  careful  furtherance. 
But  whatever  the  most  effective  means,  high  protective 
tariffs  have  not  proven  that  they  are  able  to  supply  the 
necessary  qualification.  The  instruments  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  pages  are  far  more  important  to  industrial  effi- 
ciency and — sufficienc3^  These  ends  can  only  be  reached 
by  the  proper  educational  facilities,  entirely  wanting  here, 
and  neglected  by  the  ruling  passion  for  tariff  protection. 
Science,  art,  individual  skill,  leadership  of  no  common  sort 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  271 

must  combine  in  silk  manufacture  not  to  create  a  moment- 
arily successful  enterprise,  but  to  carry  it  through  good  and 
bad  report  to  more  than  ephemeral  success.  Whether  silk 
manufacturing  could  have  ever  become  the  great  industry 
which  it  is  undoubtedly  to-day  without  a  high  tariff  (50  per 
cent.)  is  an  academic  question,  and  not  necessary  for  us  to 
inquire  into.  We  do  not  deal  with  theories  and  supposi- 
tions, but  with  facts.  It  may  be  stated  in  a  broad  sense, 
however,  that  no  aamount  of  protective  duty  could  have 
created  a  silk  industry  in  America  under  the  old  method  of 
manufacture,  strictly  one  of  hand  labor.  Neither  60  per 
cent,  nor  a  higher  duty  could  have  enabled  our  home  talent 
or  provided  us  with  the  necessary  auxiliaries  from  abroad 
to  produce  goods  in  quantity  and  of  quality  able  to 
supplant  the  work  of  the  old-time  industries  of  Europe. 
Mechanics  has  taken  a  great  part  of  the  work  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  old-time  plodders,  and  made  the  successful 
introduction  of  this  great  industry  possible.  Chemical 
science,  on  the  other  hand,  has  put  obstacles  in  our  way 
which  again  call  our  success  somewhat  into  question.  Pro- 
duction by  the  aid  of  machinery  and  power  is  the  only 
possible  method  of  production  on  a  large  scale  in  this 
country.  This  is  not  saying  that  it  is  the  best  method,  in 
silk  weaving  at  least  But  by  the  aid  of  power,  improved 
machinery  and  complete  mill  organization,  we  have  become 
able  to  produce,  so  far  as  price  is  concerned,  goods  that  even 
under  a  very  moderate  revenue  duty  foreign  goods  could, 
not  be  landed,  if  all  other  things  were  equal. 

But  here  many  other  influences  come  in,  which  in  a 
general  way  have  been  dwelt  on  before,  but  are  of  greatest 
importance  in  silks,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  costliness  of 
the  goods,  and  the  susceptibility  of  the  fibre,  which  enables 
the  skilled  worker  to  enhance  its  value  to  almost  any  rate 


272  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

above  that  which  an  inferior  handling  gives  it.  The  dye- 
ing, the  weaving,  the  designing,  the  selection  of  colors,  the 
finishing,  all  become  matters  of  greatest  importance.  Skill 
and  taste  in  all  of  these  are  essential  to  success.  Their  pres- 
ence in  the  fabric  does  not  increase  the  cost  of  production, 
but  their  absence  detracts  very  materially  from  the  value. 

How  well  this  principle  is  understood  in  Lyons  is  seen 
from  the  fact  that  in  a  specimen  of  work  intended  for  the 
Paris  Exposition  of  1889,  I  found  that  every  part  was  exe- 
cuted by  the  manufacturer  himself,  who  happened  to  be  the 
President  of  the  Lyons  Silk  Manufacturers'  Association. 
He  would  intrust  no  part  to  anybody  else  ;  the  result  was 
work  equal  to  the  very  best  that  could  be  produced.  To 
the  hereditary  skill  distributed  among  all  classes  of  silk 
workers  in  Lyons  is  due  the  fact  that  depression  in  the  silk 
trade  is  seldom  felt  as  severely  in  Lyons  as  elsewhere,  in 
America,  for  instance.  In  Lyons  every  one  concerned  puts 
a  certain  amount  of  feeling  into  the  work,  if  I  may  so 
express  myself.  In  this  country  everybody  concerned  is 
bent  on  but  one  end — to  grind  out  the  greatest  possible 
quantity  in  a  given  time. 

It  may  be  suggested  that  Europe  could  very  easily  adopt 
our  methods  and  substitute  power  for  hand-loom  weaving. 
This  is  done  to  an  extent  To  those  unacquainted  with  the 
economic  reasons,  it  must  seem  hardly  consistent  with  the 
spirit  of  otherwise  progressive  trade  centres  to  cling  mainly 
to  the  old  moda  On  examination  we  find,  however,  that 
for  Europe  the  advantages  are  all  with  the  old  system ;  for 
us,  on  the  contrary,  with  the  new,  because,  as  said  before, 
we  have  no  choice  in  the  matter. 

The  advantages  of  the  old  system  were  explained  in 
Chapter  IV.  of  Part  I.  The  power  mill  under  these  circum- 
stances makes  naturally  but  slow  headway  and  takes  up 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  273 

only  the  cheaper  fabrics.  These  mills  are  usually  situated 
in  the  country,  and  take  the  work  from  the  Lyons  manu- 
facturers on  the  same  terms,  to  wit:  half  of  the  piece  rate 
to  the  weaver  and  the  other  half  to  cover  the  other  items, 
such  as  winding,  warping,  power,  expense,  and  profit,  as  ex- 
plained. 

Loading  of  Silks. 

The  loading  of  silk  plays  a  prominent  part  in  silk  manu- 
facture. Few  who  wear  silks,  especially  black  silks,  know 
that  they  often  carry  more  chemicals,  salts  of  iron  and  tin,  with 
them,  than  silk  as  reeled  from  the  cocoon.  Silk  is  an  absorbent 
of  moisture  to  a  very  high  degree,  and  this  quality  has  been 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  profit-making  propensity  of  man. 
With  the  aid  of  science  he  has  found  means  to  retain  the 
absorbed  material  and  thereby  increase  the  weight  and 
thickness  of  the  thread.  It  must  be 'remembered  that  the 
silk  as  reeled  from  the  cocoon  is  of  such  great  fineness  that 
it  takes  from  forty  to  eighty  threads,  according  to  the  dif- 
ferent kinds,  laid  closely  side  by  side,  to  cover  the  space  of 
a  millimeter.  A  number  of  the  filaments  (from  three  or 
four  up  to  twent}')  are  therefore  united  in  the  reeling  to 
make  one  thread  as  it  comes  into  the  market  as  raw  silk. 
When  one  cocoon  is  exhausted,  the  reeler  puts  a  new  one 
in  its  place,  and  so  an  endless  thread  of  even  thickness  is 
produced  by  proper  reeling. 

In  the  throwing  of  silk,  two  or  three  strands  of  raw  silk 
are  spun  into  tram  (the  weft),  and  several  of  these  twisted 
are  made  into  organzine  (the  warp).  Now  science  comes  in 
and  puts  it  into  the  power  of  the  dyer  to  make  a  pound  of 
raw  silk  weigh,  when  returned,  all  the  way  from  a  pound  to 
three  pounds  in  black.  In  light  colors,  weighted  with  vege- 
table matter  (mostly  sugar),  and  less  injurious  to  the  wear- 
18 


274  "IHE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

ing  quality  of  silk,  20  per  cent,  weighting  in  organzine,  and 
50  to  70  and  even  100  per  cent,  in  the  tram  is  practised. 

Now,  it  will  be  seen  that  when  in  this  black  art  a  pound 
of  thrown  silk  (worth  $5,  to  take  a  round  figure)  can  be  made 
to  take  the  place  of  two  pounds  ($10),  and  by  the  gentler 
handling  on  hand-looms,  heavier  weighted  and  therefore 
more  brittle  silk  can  be  used  and  produce  even  a  sightlier 
fabric,  a  saving  of  a  few  cents  in  weaving  the  yard  ceases  to 
be  a  matter  of  the  importance  which  it  otherwise  might  have. 
Our  high  duties  have  certainly  contributed  to  the  causes 
which  led  to  the  practice  of  overweighting,  by  which  silks 
have  come  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  The  low  prices 
at  which  foreign  silks  were  invoiced  were  frequently  at- 
tributed to  undervaluing,  which  low  prices  could,  neverthe- 
less, be  distinctly  traced  to  the  disproportion  between  real 
silk  and  the  weight  of  lustrous  and  beautiful  silk  fabrics. 
Weighting  with  metallic  compounds,  even,  is  required  to  give 
black  silks  the  richness  of  hue  which  makes  them  so  much 
more  attractive  than  pure  dyes.  It  is  only  the  heavy  weight- 
ing which  is  dangerous  to  the  fabric. 

But  here  the  difficulty  lies  to  make  the  manufacturer  keep 
the  safe  line.  It  is  easy  for  the  buyer  as  well  as  for  the 
appraiser  to  determine  the  rate  of  the  weighting  practised. 
Every  species  of  silk  has  a  specific  gravity.  By  counting 
the  number  of  singles  in  the  thread  the  specific  weight  of 
pure  silk  can  be  easily  ascertained.  By  comparing  the  re- 
sult of  the  calculation  with  the  weight  of  a  certain  quantity 
of  the  weighted  fabric  it  can  speedily  be  determined  what 
percentage  of  weighting  matter  has  gone  into  the  goods  and 
swelled  up  the  fibre  sufficiently  to  make  the  silk  feel  as 
heavy  and  stocky  as  a  much  greater  number  of  filaments 
in  the  thread  of  pure  silk.  With  these  explanations  it  is 
perhaps  easier  to  understand  how  so   much  cheap  silk  is 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  275 

brought  into  the  market,  and  also  the  difficulties  which  have 
beset  our  silk  industry  as  well  as  that  of  other  nations. 
Of  this  I  shall  say  a  few  concluding  words,  and  deal  now 
with  the  general  question  of  comparative  cost  of  production. 

Comparative  Cost  of  Spinning. 

In  America  the  fierce  competition  among  the  throwing 
mills  has  in  a  very  few  years  brought  about  such  improve- 
ments in  machinery  that,  whereas  in  1885  I  found  machinery- 
spinning  at  the  rate  of  6,500  revolutions,  I  found  in  1887 
and  1888  a  mill  in  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  running  at  the  rate 
of  9,500,  and  one  at  Paterson  as  high  as  12,500,  and  new 
machinery  in  view  of  being  put  up,  to  run  15,000  revolu- 
tions a  minute.  In  Macclesfield  I  was  informed  by  silk 
throwsters  that  if  they  attempted  to  run  above  3,000  to 
3,500  revolutions  their  girls  would  run  away. 

In  a  product  per  month  of  3,300  pounds  of  tram  and 
3,500  pounds  of  organzine,  which,  at  the  rates  at  which  the 
throwing  was  done  by  these  mills  for  silk  manufacturers, 
would  net  $4,120,  the  labor  stood  $2,600  (120  hands,  60  per 
cent,  of  which  are  women),  and  the  remainder  of  $1,520 
would  stand  for  other  expense,  such  as  power,  rent,  interest 
charges,  and  profit.  This  is  an  average  of  37.6  cents  for 
the  tram  and  organzine.  The  silk  taken  in  this  is  Japanese 
for  the  tram,  and  for  the  organzine  three-fourths  Japanese 
and  one-fourth  Italian. 

Now,  in  making  a  comparison  with  the  English  cost,  it 
must  be  noted  that  we  take  in  America  the  best  reeled 
Japanese  silks,  which  are  exceptionally  good  winders  and 
require  little  or  no  cleaning.  The  English  throwster  takes 
the  same  silk,  but  of  the  second  or  even  third  grada  I 
therefore  leave  out  of  the  English  labor  statement  the  items 


276  ^^^  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

for  cleaning  and  recleaning,  and  take  the  winding  cost  from 
a  superior  Italian  silk,  so  as  to  obtain  an  even  basis.  This 
gives  us  an  average  labor  for  tram  and  organzine  as  Is.  80?. 
per  pound,  or  40  cents,  as  taken  from  the  mill  statement  of 
one  of  the  leading  silk  mills.  The  weekly  wages  in  wind- 
ing are  from  6s.  to  95.  ($1.52  to  $2.18) ;  for  spinner  girls,  etc., 
lOs.  to  12s.  ($2.43  to  $2.92);  and  for  men,  I85.  to  24s.  ($4.44 
to  $5.83)  a  week.  In  Bethlehem  a  mill  with  an  output  of 
2,000  pounds  per  week  employs  200  hands  and  has  a  weekly 
pay  roll  of  $600  to  $650.  This  gives  us  32^  cents  as  the 
labor  cost,  and  an  average  of  $3  to  $3.25  per  hand  employed. 
In  Paterson  the  average  monthly  earnings  stand  2,600-120, 
or  $21.66,  or  per  week  (counting  26  working  days  in  the 
month)  $4,98.  A  mark  of  greatest  significance — Bethlehem 
against  Paterson — $3  to  $3.25  against  $4.98  in  weekly  wages, 
and  only  5  cents  difference  in  the  cost  of  production. 
England's  average  of  weekly  wages  (12s.  9t?.,  $3.10)  rates 
on  a  par  with  Bethlehem,  but  the  throwing  labor  cost  is 
higher  by  about  20  per  cent.  We  can  understand  very  well 
why,  upon  trial,  American  manufacturers  do  not  find  it 
profitable  to  transfer  their  mills  from  a  manufacturing  centre 
like  Paterson  to  country  towns  like  Bethlehem,  AUenton,  or 
Boonton  in  the  run  after  cheap  labor. 

Even  in  silk  spinning,  skilled  and  well-trained  labor 
stands  for  something  in  the  battle  for  industrial  pre-emi- 
nence. The  lower  the  day  wage,  the  smaller  the  rate  of 
improvement  in  labor-saving  methods  and  machinery.  In 
Italy,  where  labor  is  cheapest,  the  progress  is  the  slowest. 
They  do  not  find  it  profitable  to  employ  improved  ma- 
chinery. They  stick  to  their  hand  methods.  They  can  do 
the  work  by  the  cheap  labor  of  peasant  girls  as  cheaply  as 
if  they  employed  the  new  processes  with  all.  the  expense 
and  capital  involved  in  them. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOII   WAGES.  277 

The  Dyeing  of  Silk. 

Dyeing  is  done  clieaper  in  America  tlian  in  Europe  on 
account  of  the  greater  quantities  sent  to  the  dye-houses. 
Some  of  our  large  mills  even  do  their  own  dyeing.  But  the 
dyeing  done  in  Lyons  and  in  Zurich  is  far  superior  to  our 
dyeing,  if  the  richness  and  softness  of  color  presented  in 
their  fabrics  can  be  considered  valid  proof  of  the  assertion. 
The  dyeing  establishments,  as  a  rule,  have  an  expert  chemist 
at  the  head.  It  is  a  common  saying  among  them  that  they 
understand  dyeing,  and  certainly  loading,  far  better  than 
we  do.  In  this,  too,  they  are  correct.  We  have  practiced 
this  art  far  more  extensively  of  late,  and  have  to  a  good 
degree  injured  the  reputation  which  American  silks  used  to 
enjoy  on  account  of  their  greater  purity. 

In  Lyons  the  charge  to  manufacturers  was  at  the  time  of 
my  visit  4.50/1  to  7/^  a  kilo,  42  to  66  cents  a  pound,  for  pure 
dyes,  and  in  black  up  to  12/  and  15/!  a  kilo,  or  $1.05  to 
$1.26  a  pound,  weighted  to  24  ounces,  or  100  per  cent.  In 
Zurich  the  charge  was  \0f.  for  black,  weighted  50  to  60  per 
cent.,  88  cents  per  pound ;  and  if  weighted  100  per  cent., 
13/  the  kilo,  or  $1.14  the  pound. 

In  America  the  dyeing  charge  stood  then  (1886-7)  for 
large  lots,  unweighted,  35  cents ;  weighted  black  (100  per 
cent),  85  cents.  This  price  was  increased  after  a  strike  of 
the  dyers  on  March  1,  1887,  to  stand  40  to  50  cents  for  pure 
colors  and  60  cents  for  pure  black,  and  $1.10  for  black 
weighted  100  per  cent.,  with  a  discount  under  the  depression 
ruling  in  the  silk  trade.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the 
increase  prevails  now. 

We  have  here  the  two  most  important  preliminary  labor 
processes  in  silk  manufacturing,  spinning  and  dyeing,  on  a 
nearly  even  basis  with  the  cost  of  European  countries,  where 


278  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES. 

the  lowest  wage  rates  are  paid.  If  there  are  differences  in 
cost,  they  incline  favorably  to  the  American  side  with  its 
highest  wage  rates.  We  have  now  to  examine  the  weaving 
part  in  order  to  determine  our  standing  in  the  matter  of  cost 
in  silk  manufacturing. 

Weaving. 

For  comparison  I  took  a  colored  silk,  faille  frangaise,  from 
one  of  the  best  American  manufacturers.  Having  given 
already  the  cost  of  throwing  and  dyeing,  it  only  remains  to 
speak  of  the  relative  manufacturing  cost,  from  the  weaving 
and  connected  parts  up  to  and  including  the  finishing  of  the 
product. 

The  silk  is  54  centimeters  (21  inches  wide).  The  Ameri- 
can piece,  calculated  on  80  yards  length,  came  in  the  wind- 
ing to  $1.46,  the  warping  $2.50,  the  weaving  10  cents  the 
yard,  the  quilling  at  $2.50,  and  the  finishing  and  general 
expense,  including  all  mill  charges,  was  given  as  $6,  then  a 
rather  high  estimate.  This  brings  the  piece  up  to  $20.50, 
or  25.62  cents  per  yard.  Under  pressure  of  dull  trade  and 
the  consequences  of  tariff-bred  congestion  the  labor  price  in 
the  silk  trade  has  come  down  considerably.  Later  inquiries 
show  that  for  the  labor  processes  quoted  above  the  rates  are 
now :  1.  Winding,  $1.46 ;  2.  Warping,  $2  ;  3.  Weaving, 
7  cents  per  yard,  $5.60 ;  4.  Quilling,  $1.50 ;  5.  Finishing 
and  other  expense,  $3  to  $4 ;  in  all,  $14.60  the  piece,  or  18 
cents  the  yard. 

The  same  silk,  calculated  on  the  basis  of  a  hundred-yard 
piece,  costs  in  Zurich :  1.  Winding,  12.90/,  $2.48 ;  2. 
Warping,  3.05/,  or  60  cents  ;  3.  Weaving,  46/,  or  $8.90  ; 
4.  Finishing  and  other  expense,  10/,  $1.96  ;  in  all,  $13.94 
the  piece,  or  13.94  cents  the  yard. 

This  is  on  hand-looms.     The  weaving,  it  will  be  noticed. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  279 

IS  at  the  rate  paid  in  America,  if  we  include  the  incidental 
operations  which  are  done  or  paid  for  by  the  hand-loom 
weavers,  but  in  power  mills  paid  by  the  mill.  The  general 
expense  is  naturally  higher  in  power  mills.  In  America 
warping  and  winding  are  done  by  machinery,  while  in 
Europe  hand  labor  is  still  practiced.  The  cheaper  labor  in 
Europe  enables  them  to  do  the  work  at  less  expense  than 
hand  labor  could  do  it  here.  But  machinery  comes  to  the 
rescue.  Yet  there  is  only  a  difference  in  the  finished  yard 
of  a  silk  worth  85  cents,  manufacturers'  cost,  of  3  cents  in 
the  labor  between  Zurich  and  New  York.  For  Lyons  the 
calculation  is  more  simple.  The  manufacturer  pays  a  speci- 
fied price,  which  includes  all  operations  from  the  dyed  tram 
and  organzine  up  to  the  finishing.  The  finishing  is  done 
separately  by  finishers  at  the  rate  of  5  centimes  the  meter, 
about  I  cent  per  yard.  For  this  class  of  silk  80  centimes  is 
paid  per  meter,  or  l-i^  cents  the  yard.  The  weaver  gets 
half,  or  7^  cents,  and  for  the  other  7^  cents  the  master  fur- 
nishes all  the  rest — shop,  rent,  harnessing  the  loom,  wind- 
ing the  tram,  and  all  incidental  factory  expenses.  The  total 
cost,  therefore,  is  a  trifle  over  15  cents  per  yard.  The 
power  loom  work  is  given  out  on  the  same  principle.  The 
owner  of  the  mill,  situated  away  in  the  country,  to  avail 
himself  of  the  cheap  labor  of  peasant  girls,  pays  one-half  of 
the  price  he  gets  to  the  weaving  girl,  and  the  other  half 
supplies  the  incidental  labor  expenses  and  profits. 

In  Crefeld  some  power  mills  have  been  started.  They 
pay  at  the  rate  of  3  marks  or  72  cents  a  day.  For  this  pay 
the  weaver  has  to  turn  out  a  certain  number  of  meters,  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  shoots  to  the  inch.  If  he  does 
less  than  the  regulated  quantity  a  corresponding  deduction 
is  made  from  his  wages.  Of  a  quality  like  the  one  under 
discussion  he  would  have  to  do  about  12  yards  a  day,  which 


280  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

would  bring  the  weaving  wage  per  yard  to  6  cents,  not  very- 
different  from  our  price  per  yard.  But  here  the  weaver 
has  two  looms,  while  in  Crefeld,  as  well  as  in  the  south- 
ern centres,  one  loom  is  the  rule.  The  American  weaver 
turns  out  20  yards  a  day,  and  earns  for  this  reason  his 
higher  wages  in  silk  weaving,  the  same  as  in  other  employ- 
ments which  we  have  traversed  in  our  journey  over  the 
world's  industries.  How  small  the  differences  in  the  labor 
cost,  after  all  this  clamor  of  selfish  interests. 

But  what  savings  are  effected  by  the  other  agency  is 
illustrated  in  our  sample,  too.  In  America  the  silk  con- 
sumed in  a  piece  of  200  yards  as  given  by  the  manufac- 
turers is  10.27  pounds.  Organzine  pari  (not  loaded)  and 
12.17  pounds  of  tram  loaded  to  20-22  ounces,  or  about  65 
per  cent  In  Lyons  the  experts  at  the  consulate,  to  whom 
I  submitted  my  sample  for  analysis,  stated  that  this  silk 
would  be  loaded  more  heavily  in  Lyons,  and  would  consume 
7.68  pounds  of  organzine  and  10.20  pounds  of  tram.  The 
saving  is  therefore  4.56  pounds  of  silk  in  the  piece,  equal 
to  20  per  cent.  Besides  this,  that  the  silk  would  be  some 
40  to  50  cents  cheaper  per  pound  than  the  silk  we  are  using 
in  America.  This  is  only  putting  the  heavier  loading 
against  a  lighter  loading,  leaving  a  much  greater  margin 
from  lighter  weighted  down  to  pure  dyes.  But  as  it  is,  the 
two  silk  accounts  stand  as  follows  per  yard  : 

Lyons.  America. 

Cents.  Cents. 

Value  of  silk 44.7  60.7 

Dyeing  of  silk,  85  cents  per  pound. . .     7.7     (65  cents  per  pound)  7.15 
Labor,  etc 15.25  18.00 

Total , 67.65  85.85 

Manufacturing  cost  difierences  (labor)  over  Lyons +2? 

DiflEerences  due  to  heavier  weighting  of  silk +16 

Total  difference +18i 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  281 

We  see  by  this  practical  demonstration  how  much  greater 
the  cost  differences  wrought  by  invisible  than  by  visible 
causes. 

General  Conditions  of  Silk  Manufacturing  in 
America. 

Weavers  under  the  old  rates  could  make  considerably 
higher  weekly  wages — from  $14  to  $16  where  they  earn 
from  $8  to  $9  now.  The  high  pay  formerly  given  attracted 
a  great  deal  of  help  from  European  countries.  The  high 
profits  obtainable  under  a  50  per  cent,  tariff  (which  covers 
the  duty-free  silk  as  well  as  the  labor  cost  in  the  goods) 
started  people  in  silk  manufacturing  who  had  little  under- 
standing of  its  requirements  and  character.  Manufacturers 
paid  willingly  whatever  price  capable  labor  could  be  got 
for.  This  to  an  extent  depleted  the  European  labor  market 
and  somewhat  raised  the  cost  of  weaving  there.  But  the 
tide  turned.  The  abundance  of  weavers  thrown  over  here, 
under  stagnating  trade,  soon  enabled  the  manufacturers 
to  reverse  matters,  and  to  dictate  terms  to  the  weavers  in- 
stead of  being  dictated  to  by  them.  The  increased  supply 
and  lessened  demand  from  change  of  fashion  reduced  wages, 
of  course. 

Silk  manufacturing  cannot  be  established  in  a  rush  and  be 
a  lasting  success.  It  wants  closer  study  and  greater  knowl- 
edge of  a  greater  variety  of  detail  than  is  required  in  most 
other  industries.  Here,  however,  less  is  brought  in  under 
the  artificial  stimulus  given  it  than  in  most  other  industries. 
The  waste  in  American  mills  is  greater  on  this  account. 
Profits  are  realized  by  American  manufacturers  thoroughly 
understanding  their  business,  while  loss  is  marked  where 
this  qualification  is  absent.     Truly  it  can  be  said  that  the 


282  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAQE8. 

industry  suffers  from  indigestion.  As  a  manufacturer,  hav- 
ing mills  here  and  in  Europe,  told  me  recently,  "  People  go 
into  manufacturing  without  any  previous  knowledge  and 
understanding.  A  man  came  to  me  not  long  ago,  saying 
that  he  had  a  capital  of  about  $30,000  which  he  wanted  to 
employ  in  silk  manufacturing.  He  wished  to  start  in  the 
business,  and  wanted  me  to  tell  him  what  machinery  he 
would  require  and  how  to  go  about  it.  He  had  not  the  first 
idea  of  silk  manufacturing,  and  still  was  ready  to  embark 
in  an  enterprise  so  costly  and  risky.  I  advised  him  to  keep 
his  money  and  put  it  in  a  safe  deposit  company,  and  he 
would  make  more  out  of  it  than  out  of  the  silk  manufactory 
if  he  asked  me  such  questions." 

I  only  repeat  what  capable  manufacturers  have  stated, 
when  I  say  that  the  silk  industry  would  be  in  a  far  health- 
ier condition  to-day  if  the  tariff  had  never  exceeded  25  to  35 
per  cent,  ad  valorem.  The  class  of  men  of  whom  the  above- 
described  enterprising  capitalist  is  a  typical  example  would 
certainly  have  been  kept  out  of  the  business  and  have  de- 
voted itself  to  more  congenial  occupations ;  as  it  is,  more 
such  men  than  a  few  are  silk  manufacturers.  As  in  all 
tariff-bred  industries,  the  pressure  comes  from  over  compe- 
tition at  home  and  far  less  from  foreign  countries,  and  least 
of  all  from  France,  the  world  leader  in  taste  and  fashion. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Silk  Plushes. — Increased  Duties  to  Foster  Non-existing  Industries. — 
Marked  Decline  in  Silk  Manufacturing  in  General. — Tarififs  cannot 
supply  the  Absence  of  Skill  and  Knowledge. 

We  imported  for  the  fiscal  year  1890,  $38,686,000,  and 
for  the  year  1891  (nine  months  of  the  new  tariff),  $37,880,- 
000  of  silk  goods,  a  falling  off  of  $800,000.  That  this 
slight  reduction  is  due  to  other  causes  than  our  improved 
ability  to  keep  out  of  our  markets  the  fabrics  of  Europe 
under  the  tariff  is  seen  from  the  far  greater  falling  off  in 
importations  of  raw  silk.  We  imported  in  1890  to  the 
value  of  $24,325,000,  and  in  1891  to  the  value  of  only  $19,- 
077,000,  a  falling  off  of  $5,250,000  in  raw  silk,  inclusive  of 
waste  silk. 

The  value  of  manufactured  silk,  however,  is  fully  double 
that  of  raw  silk,  considering  the  increased  product  which  is 
turned  out  of  a  pound  of  pure  silk  nowadays,  under  the  jDro- 
cesses  already  described.  This  decrease  of  $5,250,000  in 
the  consumption  of  raw  silk  is  therefore  equal  to  a  falling 
off  of  some  $10,000,000  in  the  production  of  silk  goods. 
"  The  tariff  was  not  increased  in  plain  silks,"  I  shall  be 
answered,  "hence  we  do  not  see  how  the  McKinley  act 
could  have  contributed  to  the  depression  in  silks."  True, 
but  we  cannot  but  see  that  tariffs  cannot  force  people  into 
buying  what  they  do  not  find  to  their  taste.  We  have  seen 
that  American  goods,  so  far  as  regards  cost  of  production, 
can  easily  keep  out  of  the  country  foreign  duty-paid  goods. 
But   this   is   not   sufficient.     The  great  falling   off  in  the 


284  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES. 

American  product,  compared  with  the  small  decrease  in 
importation,  shows  that  we  have  to  look  for  relief  to  some 
other  remedial  agency  than  a  high  tariff  ;  to  wit,  excellence, 
through  whatever  may  be  the  means  required  to  reach  it. 

The  manufacturers,  whose  position  as  pioneers  of  the  trade 
makes  them  the  fittest  judges  of  its  requirements,  deprecated 
any  increase  of  duties.  Still,  some  pushing  outsiders,  mostly 
engaged  in  other  lines,  succeeded  in  getting  their  specialties, 
present  and  prospective  (but  more  the  latter  than  the  former), 
taken  care  of,  "  Velvets,  plushes,  or  other  pile  fabrics,"  as 
in  other  textiles,  were  singled  out  in  silks  for  special  legis- 
lative favors.  The  tariff,  formerly  one  of  50  per  cent,  was 
changed  into  a  compound  tariff  as  follows : 

1.  Goods  containing  less  than  75  per  cent,  in  weight  of 
silk  to  pay  $1.50  per  pound  and  15  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

2.  Goods  containing  more  than  75  per  cent,  in  weight  of 
silk  to  pay  $3.50  per  pound  and  15  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
"But  in  no  case  shall  any  of  the  foregoing  articles  pay  a 
less  rate  of  duty  than  50  per  centum  ad  valorem.'^  No 
danger.  Few  goods,  except  all-silk  velvets,  cost  over  $10  a 
pound.  Most  of  the  goods  coming  under  this  clause  have 
a  heavy  cotton  back;  the  silk  is  schappe,  or  waste  silk,  and 
would  average  nearer  $3  than  $4  a  pound.  All  of  them  are 
necessaries  and  not  luxuries.  Our  higher  standard  of  life 
makes  the  working  girl,  the  servant  girl,  and  the  farmer's 
wife  and  daughter  the  principal  consumers  of  these  fabrics, 
which  are  used  for  millinery,  as  well  as  for  cloakings  and 
trimmings.  No  American  woman  would  go  bareheaded  or 
without  a  cloak  or  mantle,  whatever  the  fashion,  on  a  holi- 
day excursion  or  to  her  daily  work,  as  her  sisters  do  all 
over  the  continent  of  Europe.  We  live  on  a  different  plane, 
on  a  higher  level.  With  us  things  have  become  necessaries 
which  in  other  countries  may  well  be  called  luxuries.     To 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  285 

call  them  so  here  is  rank  nonsense.  To  use  tlie  plea  as  a 
cover  for  filcliing  higher  taxes  out  of  the  slender  incomes  of 
our  female  wage  earners  is  perfidious,  and  adds  insult  to 
injury. 

How  the  new  imposition  acts  on  prices  can  be  seen  from  a 
comparison  of  the  importer's  selling  prices  of  velvet  and 
plushes  under  the  old  50  per  cent,  duty  and  the  new  com- 
pound duty,  foreign  price  and  measure  reduced  to  cents  and 
yards : 

PRICES  OF  COTTON-BACK  VELVETS,  EIGHTEEN  INCHES  WIDE. 

Cents.  Cents.  Cents. 

Foreign  price 32  40 J  47 

Price  in  New  York  under  old  tariff 52J  75  85 

Price  in  New  York  under  new  tariff 70  86  95 

Increase  per  cent 33^  15  13 

Difference  foreign  and  present  American  ...     38  44^  48 

Difference  per  cent,  over  foreign  price 120  110  102 

PRICES  OF  PLUSHES  FOR  MILLINERIES,  ETC. 

15  in.  18  in.  18  in.  18  in.  24  in. 

Cents.  Cents.  Cents,  Cents.  Cents. 

Foreign  price 18        23        24  26        34 

Under  old  tariff 3H      '^^  41  50        60 

Under  new  tariff 45        55  57^  65        80 

Increase  per  cent 40        40  40  30  33^ 

Difference,  cents,  foreign  and  Am- 
erican      27        33        33}  39  46 

Difference  foreign  and  American 

percent 150  140  145  150  136 

The  increase  is  heaviest  in  plushes,  because  the  relative 
weight  is  greater  of  cotton  in  the  fabric.  The  cotton  back  in 
plushes  is  of  a  heavier,  coarser  yarn  than  in  velvets.  We 
have  never  made  velvets.  Our  manufacturers  understand  the 
difficulties,  and  have  not  attempted  an  enterprise  which  has 
offered  small  prospects  at  best.     If  a  protection  of  75  per 


286  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH    WAOE8. 

cent,  (practically  this  is  the  rate  of  protection,  the  difference 
between  the  foreign  shipping  prices  and  the  American  im- 
porter's selling  prices)  gave  no  stimulation,  the  increase  will 
not  snppl}^  the  want  of  ability — the  main  cause  of  our  neg- 
lect These  cheap  velvets  and  plushes  are  made  on  power 
looms  to  a  considerable  extent  now  in  the  Crefeld  dis- 
trict. The  cheapest  grades  of  schappe  and  waste  silks  are 
used.  In  the  handling  of  these  we  are  very  deficient,  while 
in  Crefeld  they  are  very  expert.  These  goods,  with  cotton- 
back  satins,  form  the  principal  industry  there,  and  give  em- 
ployment to  multitudes  of  weavers  for  twenty  and  thirty 
miles  into  the  country. 

They  know  how  to  make  a  little  go  a  great  way.  When 
the  Crefeld  and  Lyons  cotton-back  satins  come  out  of  the 
finisher's  hands  they  have  a  brilliancy  of  face,  softness  of 
touch,  and  richness  of  color  tint  far  ahead  of  that  which 
goods  of  the  same  composition  would  have  here.  Even  a 
larger  percentage  of  superior  silks  in  the  American  satins 
show  lack-lustre,  dull,  leaden  colors  compared  with  the  for- 
eign product,  while  the  finish  usually  gives  a  hard  sizing 
which  leaves  creases  when  handled.  In  plushes  the  outlook 
at  the  first  glance  seems  a  more  promising  one. 

The  goods  are  wovea  in  two  layers,  and  the  pile  is  cut 
automatically.  On  power  looms  two  widths  are  stretched, 
and  two  lower  and  two  upper  pieces  are  turned  out  in  one 
operation.  But  the  reasons  which  stay  our  hands  in  velvets 
must  stand  for  something  in  plushes,  else  we  could  have 
made  them  successfully  under  the  old  tariff.  The  protec- 
tion was  ample,  the  inducement  sufficient  for  starting  any 
number  of  mills.  But  we  did  not  make  any.  The  demand 
for  these  goods  is  a  fickle  one,  as  every  manufacturer  and 
dealer  knows.  The  inducements  are  not  great  enough  to 
counteract  the  risks  of  starting  a  mill  with  machinery  for 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES.  287 

the  manufacture  of  goods  which  might  be  blocked  up  in  the 
storehouses  on  a  change  of  fashion  from  velvets  and  plushes 
to  flowers  and  ribbons.  The  heavy  decline  in  the  importa- 
tions of  plushes  is  taken  in  some  quarters  as  a  realization  of 
the  early  promise  that  after  the  passing  of  theMcKinley  act 
we  should  make  our  own  plushes  and  cotton-back  velvets. 

The  reduced  importation  of  waste  silk,  however,  tells 
plainly  enough  that  this  cannot  have  been  the  case.  To 
make  the  goods  here  on  a  basis  of  importations  of  previous 
years  would  have  required  an  importation  of  waste  silk  of 
many  millions  of  pounds.  But  actually  we  imported  less  in 
1891  than  in  1890  (1,300,000  pounds  against  1,404,000 
pounds).*  In  point  of  fact,  fashion  has  changed  so  quickly, 
that  but  few  velvets  and  plushes  are  bought  as  compared  to 
a  year  ago.  For  all  these  reasons  it  is  easy  to  understand 
why  old-established  manufacturing  houses  did  not  feel  inter- 
ested in  and  even  advised  against  the  increase.  But  to  quote 
Pope :  "Fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread." 

The  impetus  came  from  quarters  where  silk  was  only  an 
incidental  industry.  The  aim  was  to  get  a  greater  profit 
and  experimenting  margin  for  manufacturing  seal  plushes, 
then  in  large  demand  for  cloaks,  than  under  the  50  per  cent, 
tariff,  or  rather  to  exclude  the  English  plushes  by  putting 
the  price  up  so  high  that  people  would  be  forced  into  buy- 
ing the  American  substitute.  Furniture  plushes  had  been 
very  successfully  made  by  some  of  these  parties ;  so  success- 

*  For  the  eleven  months  of  the  fiscal  year  of  1891-92,  just  past,  the  out- 
look for  these  new  national  wards,  waste  silk  plushes  and  velvets,  is  a 
more  dismal  one  yet.  The  importations  compare  for  a  like  period  of  the 
preceding  year  as  $575,026  against  $955,100.  In  weight  1,033,730  pounds 
against  1,190,486  pounds  of  the  preceding  year.  This  is  the  more  remark- 
able, because  the  importation  of  reeled  silk  has  increased  again  to  the  old 
position,  under  a  better  demand  for  the  plainer  silks,  where  we  are  able 
to  hold  the  field,  as  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter. 


288  ^^^  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

fully,  that  for  quite  a  number  of  years  foreign  goods  were 
entirely  excluded  from  our  markets.  Under  the  old  duty 
(an  ad  valorem  one,  too)  the  manufacturers  made  very  hand- 
some fortunes.  But  this  must  have  whetted  the  appetite 
for  the  great  seal  plush  trade.  They  obtained  their  morsel, 
but,  alas  !  the  expected  revel  turned  out  a  Barmecide  feast. 
The  great  increase  of  tariff  duties  induced  English  manu- 
facturers to  bring  over  their  machinery  and  their  help  to 
transfer  the  manufacture  from  foreign  to  American  soil. 

This  could  have  been  foreseen  by  any  but  greedy  would- 
be  manufacturers.  Under  a  declining  demand  and  increas- 
ing production,  the  increased  home  competition  would  have 
at  once  taken  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  the  increased 
tariff  out  of  the  hands  of  the  American  manufacturers. 
English  friends  of  mine  came  here  last  winter  for  the  pur- 
pose of  prospecting  the  field.  I  advised  against  their 
transfer.  They  said  that  these  goods  had  been  made  of  late 
years  only  for  the  American  market.  The  machinery  was 
on  hand,  and  it  would  cost  little  except  the  duty  on  old 
machinery  to  transfer  the  manufacturing  plant  entire ;  other- 
wise the  machinery  would  prove  a  dead  loss.  This  party 
did  not  come  over.  Others,  however,  did.  But  they  did 
not  make  much  out  of  the  venture,  and  will  probably  regret 
not  having  stayed  at  home. 

The  industry  was  started,  but  the  results  of  a  year's  oper- 
ations are  not  very  brilliant  The  demand  for  the  article 
was  on  the  decline  previous  to  the  enactment  of  the  Mc- 
Kinley  bill.  "  At  the  end  of  1890,"  I  am  informed  by  one 
of  the  leading  cloak  manufacturers  who  knows  the  market 
mo^  thoroughly,  "  there  were  probably  6,000  pieces  in  the 
hands  of  manufacturers  and  importers  to  supply  the  demand 
for  1891.  When  the  various  domestic  factories  were  estab- 
lished, they  received  orders  for  fair  quantities,  but  hardly 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  289 

any  of  the  broad  goods  (fifty  to  fifty-two  inches  wide)  made 
in  this  country  were  satisfactory  ;  they  were  inferior  in  color 
and  finish  even  to  the  poorer  qualities  of  English  goods,  so 
that  they  had  to  be  sold  at  cost  or  below.  The  narrow 
(twenty-four  inches  wide)  domestic  goods  were  better,  and  a 
fair  quantity  was  sold ;  but  the  demand  proved  to  be  much 
smaller  than  was  anticipated,  and  did  not  equal  that  of 
former  years  by  perhaps  50  per  cent.,  so  that,  it  is  stated  by 
competent  authority,  there  are  now  quite  large  stocks  in  the 
hands  of  manufacturers  and  commission  merchants. 

"  But  there  is  a  worse  side  than  this  in  the  way  the  work- 
ing people  are  affected  by  this  system  of  establishing 
industries  by  act  of  Congress.  In  order  to  manufacture 
these  goods  here,  a  large  portion  of  the  factory  hands  had  to 
be  imported  from  England,  while,  at  the  same  time,  quite  a 
number  of  resident  working  people  found  employment  in 
these  mills.  As  it  is,  most  of  these  imported  hands  have 
been  thrown  out  of  employment  at  the  beginning  of  winter; 
they  intend  to  return,  or  probably  by  this  time  those  able 
to  defray  the  expense  have  returned,  to  England,  where 
things  have  changed  to  the  better  for  them.  The  demand 
for  English  plushes,  slacking  here,  has  largely  increased  on 
the  Continent,  so  that,  after  all,  we  have  not  succeeded  in 
causing  great  injury  to  England,  which,  from  utterances 
cast  about  freely  at  the  time,  seems  to  have  been  the  main 
object  of  the  McKinley  bill.  Those  who  elect  to  stay  along 
with  the  resident  American  help  will  scatter  and  look  about 
for  other  occupations,  as  hardly  any  of  the  newly-established 
plush  factories  can  either  continue  to  work  at  present  or 
resume  operations  for  months  to  come  at  the  best." 

The  benefits  which  the  new  industries  established  under 
the  McKinley  bill  brought  to  labor  are  not  very  prominent. 
The  account  which  the  enterprising  manufacturers  may  yet 
19 


290  THE  BCONOMT  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

have  to  score  may  prove  more  costly  in  the  end  than  the 
loss  on  the  sale  of  undesirable  surplus  stocks  left  on  their 
hands.  That  the  goods  needed  no  extra  tariff  stimulus  to 
make  the  enterprise  remunerative,  if  conducted  with  the 
skill  and  technical  knowledge  required,  will  become  evident 
from  an  examination  of  the  English  cost  of  production, 
which  I  have  obtained  from  a  prominent  manufacturer  there. 
I  have  two  qualities  of  60-inch  width.  The  cheaper  quality 
weighs  24  ounces  a  yard,  and  is  sold  at  10s.,  or  $2.43.  The 
old  duty  equalled  $1.21|-;  the  new  duty  is  $1.50  per  pound, 
or  $2.25  per  yard,  plus  15  per  cent.,  or  36|  cents;  total, 
$2.61|^,  or  108  per  cent.  The  importer's  selling  price  under 
the  old  tariff  could  not  have  been  less  than  $4.50,  allowing 
for  7  per  cent,  discount  (the  usual  rate)  and  a  10  per  cent, 
profit.  This  left  a  margin  of  fully  $2  to  pay  the  difference 
which  American  labor  usually  gets  as  its  share  above 
foreign  labor.     But  what  is  the  foreign  labor  cost? 

(1)  Cost  of  yam  per  piece  of  28  yards. 

No.  2-40  cotton  warp,  6  pounds  3  ounces,  I5^s $3.27 

No.  2-14  weft,  13  pounds  7  ounces,  10s 2.69 

No.  2-17  spun  silk  (Tussar),  21  pounds  12  ounces,  8a. .  43.21 

Total $47.17 

This  is  material  per  yard $1.69 

(2)  Weaving 8 

Incidental  labor,  etc 4 

Dyeing  and  finishing.  Bid 17 

Total $1.98 

Leaving  45  cents  for  general  mill  expenses  and  profit. 

The  better  quality  weighs  25  ounces  and  is  sold  at  14s.,  or 
$3.40.  The  new  duty  on  this  quality  stands  f|  x  $1.50, 
equal  to  $2.34,  and  adding  15  per  cent,  ad  valorem^  51  cents ; 
total,  $2.85,  or  84  per  cent.  The  importer's  selling  price 
came  under  the  old  duty  to  $6.50,  which  left  a  very  con- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF  HIGH   WAGES.  291 

siderable  profit  to  be  divided  between  labor  and  capital  to 
any    enterprising  manufacturer  (which  is  always   a   fixed 
quantity — 90  per  cent,  labor  and  10  per  cent,  profit). 
The  materials  in  this  quality  were : 

No.  3-60  warp,  9  pounds  7  ounces,  44  cents $4.15 

No.  3-30  weft,  8  pounds  (14s.),  28  cents 3.24 

No.  2-36  silk  yam,  26  pounds  (lOs.),  |3.43 68.18 

Per  piece  of  28  yards $69.57 

or  $2.48^  a  yard. 

A  margin  of  $4 — sufficient,  one  would  suppose,  to  satisfy 
the  most  exorbitant  demands  of  both  labor  and  capital 
without  a  raising  of  duties. 

In  this  quality  the  weaving  rate  is  1^  c?.,  or  3  cents,  above 
the  lower  quality.  The  other  elements  of  cost  are  about  the 
same.  The  dyeing  and  finishing  include  all  incidentals  be- 
longing to  the  two  operations.  The  direct  labor  cost  in 
these  would  not  exceed  one-third  of  the  price  quoted  for 
dyeing  and  finishing. 

The  cotton  yarns  do  not  cost  more  here  than  in  England. 
The  labor  cost  in  these  is  not  above  the  English.  That  we 
have  the  proficiency  of  the  English  for  spinning  spun  silks 
may  be  doubted,  generally  speaking,  but  the  mills  that  were 
making  these  goods  are  certainly  proficient  in  the  handling 
of  the  silk  in  their  furniture  plushes.  They  make  their  own 
yarns,  and  what  they  pay  in  their  spinning  department  more 
than  is  paid  in  England,  would  not  add  much  to  the  labor 
expense  of  a  yard  of  seal  plush.  The  weaving  cost,  if  it 
were  double  and  treble  the  English  rate,  would  not  have  cut 
a  deep  hole  in  the  margin  left  over  the  English  cost 

The  difficulty  in  successfully  making  seal  plushes  could 
at  no  time  have  been  in  the  difference  in  labor  cost. 

The  old  duty  gave  to  the  manufacturer  here  in  the  lower 
quality  a  margin  of  $2  over  the  English  cost,  inclusive  of 


292  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

charges  and  profit.  In  this  $2.43  of  the  English  price,  the 
labor  cost  is  29  cents,  including  dyeing  and  finishing  ex- 
pense. The  dyeing  and  finishing  done  in  England  by  outside 
parties  contains  the  cost  of  supplies  and  dyes  plus  the  profit, 
which  in  American  mills  is  not  included  in  the  mill  account, 
but  goes  into  the  general  profit.  Allowing,  therefore,  double 
for  all  this,  twice  29  cents,  or  58  cents  for  manufacturing  in 
America  (of  which  at  least  18  cents  ought  to  go  to  dyeing 
materials,  etc.),  it  will  be  seen  that  a  certain  profit  of  $2  was 
in  store  for  the  American  who  could  give  to  the  trade  goods 
in  every  way  as  satisfactory  as  the  English  plushes. 

In  naming  this  margin  of  profit  I  set  the  increased  cost  on 
account  of  labor  against  the  profit  of  the  English  manufact- 
urer, which,  of  course,  is  included  in  the  price  of  $2.43. 

In  the  second  quality,  the  profit  to  the  American  manu- 
facturer would  have  been  as  high  as  $3.08  over  the  English 
shipping  price.  The  labor  cost  is  but  a  few  pence  higher 
than  in  the  lower  quality.  The  margin  of  profit,  however,  is 
considerably  above  that  what  it  is  in  the  lower  quality.  On 
a  basis  of  net  cost,  i.  e.,  minus  the  profit  of  the  English 
manufacturer,  the  American,  under  the  old  duty,  had  a  profit 
guarantee  of  $2.25  a  yard,  and  in  the  finer  goods  of  $3.50, 
or  100  per  cent,  and  150  per  cent,  respectively. 

From  this  it  must  be  plain  that  under  the  old  duty  the 
goods  could  have  been  made  as  well  as  under  a  higher 
duty.  What  is  required  cannot  be  supplied  by  protective 
duties.  It  has  been  stated  above  that  Grermany,  with  all 
the  advantages  it  derives  from  its  many  universities  and 
technical  high  schools,  could  not  equal  England  in  the  dye- 
ing of  seal  plushes,  and  less  yet  in  the  finishing,  where  the 
difficulties  are  equally  great. 

The  Germans  as  well  as  the  French  are  drawing  their  own 
supply  from  England.     A  demand  springing  up  from  these 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  293 

highly  developed  manufacturing  nations  means  an  immedi- 
ate activity  in  English  mills.  Our  people  had  to  learn  for 
the  hundredth  time  the  same  old  lesson,  and  pay  dearly  for 
it,  that  an  ounce  of  foresight  is  better  than  a  pound  of  hind- 
sight. But  experience  must  be  bought  at  a  high  price  to 
be  of  value  as  a  lesson. 

America  has  found  out,  too,  that  the  main  difficulty  lies 
here  also  in  the  dyeing  and  the  finishing.  Many  of  the 
goods  that  were  cut  up  proved  well-nigh  worthless.  Many  of 
these  goods,  looking  well  enough  in  the  piece,  when  made 
up  and  worn  and  subjected  to  the  influence  of  perspiration, 
changed  color  and  became  rusty-red  and  rather  undesirable 
luxuries.  Goods  gaining  an  unenviable  reputation  through 
such  vital  defects  cannot  easily  come  into  favor  again,  and 
so  this  industry,  too,  has  become  extinct  after  a  brief  dehut, 
and  will  be  known  to  posterity  only  from  the  fame  it 
received  as  being  one  of  the  remarkable  industrial  creations 
of  the  McKinley  act. 

These  creations  are  a  fine  sight,  to  be  sure.  Advertised 
far  and  wide  with  great  flourish  of  trumpets  as  the  solution 
of  the  question  how  to  employ  our  surplus  labor,  they  one 
and  all  have  either  not  been  able  to  start,  or  when  started 
have  been  doomed  speedily  to  wither  and  sink  into  an  early 
grave.  Like  Potemkin's  painted  prosperity,  villages  and 
towns,  they  fill  the  prospect  for  an  hour,  and  disappear  as 
soon  as  the  royal  cortege  has  passed. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Wool  and  Woolens. — Protection  frustrated  by  its  own  Excesses. — Wool 
Artificially  Dear  limits  Consumption. — Decrease  of  Sheep. — Increase 
in  England. — Decline  in  Wool  Manufacture  traceable  to  the  Tarifl. — 
Great  Increase  in  the  Use  of  Wool  Substitutes. 

Ariadne's  thread  is  required  to  lead  us  through  the  maze 
of  the  tariff  in  its  relation  to  the  woolen  industry.  The  in- 
dustry is  so  complicated  and  comprises  so  many  subdivisions 
that,  without  a  systematic  treatment  of  its  most  important 
branches,  the  space  here  available  would  not  permit  me 
to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  importance  of  the  subject 
Not  alone  is  a  greater  line  of  industries  affected  by  the  wool 
tariff,  but  the  very  health  of  our  people  pays  tribute  to  it 
The  raw  wool,  varying  as  it  is,  is  but  a  uniform  article  com- 
pared with  the  variety  of  manufactures  wrought  of  it.  Wool 
and  shoddy,  cotton  and  wool,  woolens  and  worsteds,  dress 
goods  and  clothes,  knit  goods  and  knit  ''fabrics,"  all  are 
covered  by  the  one  general  name.  Each  implies  such  differ- 
ences in  manufacturing  and  in  work,  that  all  similarity  dis- 
appears outside  of  the  fibre  and  of  the  common  name.  The 
name,  even,  is  no  guarantee  for  the  possession  of  the  quality. 
Some  fabrics  contain  so  little  wool,  that  it  is  an  abuse  of 
language  to  call  them  woolens.  Cotton  and  ground  woolen 
rags  form  the  material  upon  which  much  good  labor  is 
wasted.  We  have  to  treat  seriatim  the  leading  branches. 
But  if  dissimilar  in  all  respects,  they  have  this  in  common, 
that  they  all  proclaim  the  unavoidable  necessity  of  free 
wool  for  the  consumer's  interest,  as  well  as  the  producer's. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  UIQH  WAGES.  296 

The  Wool. 

It  is  conceded  bj  all  whose  opinions  are  worth  consider- 
ing, that  in  a  climate  like  ours  wool  is,  of  all  materials  used 
for  clothing,  the  most  conducive  to  health.  Our  cold  winters 
and  the  frequent,  sudden,  and  great  changes  in  our  temper- 
ature make  woolen  clothing  of  as  great  importance  to  health 
as  pure  drinking  water  and  unadulterated  food.  Fortu- 
nately wool  has  become  so  cheap  that  nothing  could  prevent 
a  vastly  greater  consumption  in  America  if  things  and  prices 
were  left  to  find  their  own  level.  But  here  again  the  Kepub- 
lican  lawmakers  say  cheapness  is  a  curse,  and  must  be  pre- 
vented in  the  interest  of  the  producer,  which  means — so 
many  electoral  votes  from  Ohio,  etc.  "  We'll  put  on  a  specific 
duty  of  11  cents  a  pound  for  the  wool,  and  11  cents  for  each 
pound  of  grease,  sand,  and  dung  that  may  be  found  mixed 
with  or  contained  in  each  pound  of  absolutely  clean  wool  as 
it  goes  in  the  manufactured  state  into  clothing."  But  how 
will  this  wool  producer  stand  if  outside  prices  keep  dropping, 
dropping,  dropping,  to  which  fact  our  own  meddlesome  laws 
have  contributed  not  a  little,  and  the  boffer  only  helps  make 
a  breach  in  the  wall  for  foreign  manufactures  and  shorten 
the  market  of  American  woolens  made  of  American  wool  ? 
Wool,  as  a  fact,  has  become  provokingly  cheap.  How  cheap 
can  be  seen  from  a  brief  history  of  prices. 

England  was  all  through  the  Middle  Ages,  as  she  is  now, 
the  great  wool-producing  country  of  Europe.  The  price  of 
wool  in  the  fourteenth  century  averaged  about  4s.  6d  a 
stone,  or  4d  a  pound,  which,  money  at  only  twelve  times 
the  present  value,  is  equivalent  to  4iS.  (97  cents)  a  pound. 
A  nearer  appreciation  of  this  we  get  when  we  consider 
that  the  price  of  wheat  averaged  about  55.  a  quarter,  or  l\d, 
a  bushel.     A  pound  of  wool  was  then  worth  half  a  bushel 


296  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

of  wheat,  or  a  day's  wages  of  a  master  carpenter  or  a  master 
mason.  At  the  present  time,  wool  worth  about  20  cents 
and  wheat  one  dollar,  a  bushel  of  wheat  buys  five  pounds 
of  wool.  One  pound  of  wool  buys  now  only  one-sixth 
to  one-eighth  of  an  English  carpenter's,  bricklayer's  or 
mason's  workday.  Wool  was  the  chief  article  of  impor- 
tance ;  almost  the  only  article  of  export,  it  was  also  the 
only  one  which  gave  revenue  to  the  crown.  Agriculture 
was  the  principal  occupation  then.  The  produce  of  the  land 
alone  could  yield  revenue.  Wool  manufacturing  barely  ex- 
isted as  an  industry.  Flanders,  however,  was  the  seat  of  a 
great  woolen  industry,  and  raised  little  wool.  Hence  the 
great  demand  for  English  wool,  even  at  double  the  price 
ruling  in  England,  and  the  facility  of  collecting  an  export 
duty  as  high  as  100  per  cent,  from  it. 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  woolen  manufacturing  became 
a  great  industry  in  England.  The  manufacturers  wanted 
cheap  wool.  In  consequence,  the  exportation  of  wool  was 
prohibited  and  made  a  felony  in  1662  in  England  and 
Ireland.  In  1690  a  law  was  passed,  practically  closing  the 
English  ports  to  Irish  woolens,  thus  ruining  the  industry 
formerly  flourishing  there.  The  Navigation  act  had  pre- 
viously excluded  them  from  the  colonies.  Arthur  Young 
declares  it  one  of  the  most  infamous  statutes  that  ever  dis- 
graced a  legislature. 

Under  the  sway  of  these  laws,  English  wool  was  worth 
about  25  cents  a  pound,*     But  Spanish  wool,  which  up  to 

*  Arthur  Young,  in  "  The  Question  of  Wool  Truly  Stated,"  gives  very 
interesting  details,  which  are  worth  quoting,  if  only  for  the  moral  they 
convey,  and  to  show  that  legislative  interference  with  trade  has  never  the 
desired  effect  :  "  In  1660  the  laws  first  seriously  avowed  the  absolute  pro- 
hibition of  exporting  wool.  In  1663  it  was  made  a  felony.  But  the 
severity  answered  so  ill  the  intention,  which  was  to  encourage  the  manu- 
facturer, that  in  1665  the  act  passed,  directing  all  persons  to  be  buried  in 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  297 

the  middle  of  this  century  occupied  the  position  that 
Australian  wool  holds  to-day  for  fine  wool,  was  worth  from 
60  to  about  80  cents  a  pound.  After  this  policy  was  aban- 
doned, a  small  import  duty  was  put  on  wool.  But  under  free 
wool  in  1850,  English  wool  had  become  worth  about  45  cents, 
and  Spanish  wool  commanded  about  the  same  price.  Free 
trade  in  wool  evidently  did  not  depress  the  price  of  wool,  but, 
in  extending  the  markets  of  the  manufacturers,  extended 
the  market  of  the  farmer  for  his  fleece,  and  so  benefited 
.him  to  a  greater  extent  than  any  protective  duty  could  have 
done.  These  high  prices  for  English  wool  remained  up  to 
about  1875.     Fashion  favored  the  demand  for  English  wool, 

woolen,  by  an  extx-aordinary  policy  forcing  the  dead  to  consume  what  the 
living  were  inadequate  to  purchase.  In  1688  tlie  prohibition  was  repeated, 
a  sure  proof  that  it  had  not  answered  ;  which  was  more  formally  avowed 
by  the  statute  of  the  7th  and  8th  of  William,  which  repealed  the  felony  of 
16G2,  declaring  it  to  be  too  severe  to  be  executed.  In  1699  the  law  passed, 
that  subjected  Kent  and  Sussex  to  those  restrictions  which  the  bill  of  1787 
proposed  to  extend  to  all  the  coasts  of  the  kingdom.  In  1699  the  Irish 
woolen  fabrics  were  destroyed  by  one  of  the  most  infamous  statutes  that 
ever  disgraced  a  legislature,  manifestly  proving  how  little  the  new  system 
had  answered.  In  1717  the  act  passed,  that  made  the  non-payment  of  the 
fine  punishable  by  transportation,  marking  decidedly  enough  that  smug- 
gling was  then  as  much  complained  of  as  ever.  In  1733  the  Boards  of 
Trade  made  a  report  to  the  House  of  Commons  against  the  plan  pushed 
by  the  manufacturers  for  a  general  registry  of  all  the  wool  grown  in 
England.  In  1739  the  general  Wool  act  passed,  the  preamble  of  which 
declares  that  the  clandestine  export  is  great  and  notorious,  etc." 

"  From  this  deduction  it  appears  clearly ,  through  the  long  course  of  128 
years,  that  severity  and  restrictions  are  not  the  means  of  putting  a  stop  to 
smuggling."  A  further  good  illustration  how  the  farmer  fares  in  the 
partnership  of  protection  is  also  given  by  Young.  In  a  speech  he  says  : 
"  The  manufacturer  says  to  the  farmer,  '  I  will  have  your  wool  100  per  cent. 
cheaper  than  you  could  sell  it  for  abroad.'  *  Very  well,'  replies  the  farmer, 
'  then  you  will  let  me  buy  my  coat  at  the  cheapest  market.'  '  Not  at  all,' 
returns  the  other ;  '  you  shall  buy  it  of  no  one  but  me,  let  the  price  be  what 
it  may.'" 


298  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

and  long  after  the  fine  wools  had  become  depressed  in  price, 
English  wool  held  its  high  price  of  twice  the  value  of  colo- 
nial wool.  The  unparalleled  increase  in  the  supply  from  the 
antipodes  (in  1860,  189,000,000  pounds;  1875,  619,000,000 
pounds ;  1885,  880,000,000 ;  and  now  about  1,000,000,000 
pounds)  did  not  alter  this  until  fashion  pronounced  her 
unalterable  decree,  which  shows,  aside  of  all  other  points  to 
be  deduced  from  a  consideration  of  these  facts,  that  demand 
makes  prices  for  commodities,  and  that  wool  and  wool  are 
different  things. 

American  "Wool. 

English  wool  has  rapidly  declined  since,  and  is  now  barely 
worth  more  than  Australian  wool.  A  long  and  strong 
staple,  formerly  the  principal  combing  wool,  it  finds  now, 
with  the  improved  combing  machinery,  a  formidable  rival 
in  New  Zealand,  Botany,  and  other  similar  wools.  Still, 
the  flocks  of  sheep  increase  in  England.  The  present  num- 
ber is  stated  to  be  33,000,000  to  34,000,000  head.  Per  capita 
of  population,  this  is  more  than  in  America,  In  America 
sheep  raising  for  the  fleece  recedes  with  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation. The  Territories,  even,  cannot  keep  it  up  long  as  a 
paying  enterprise.  The  inferior  quality  of  the  fleece  pre- 
cludes a  high  price  for  wool,  protection  or  no  protection. 
The. losses  from  all  causes,  principally  from  winter  ex- 
posure, are  extremely  heavy.  In  1889  the  loss  in  the 
new  Western  States  and  Territories,  including  California, 
amounted  to  15  per  cent.  (2,500,000  in  about  17,000,000,  in 
some  of  these  reaching  as  high  as  21,  23,  and  even  34  per 
cent). 

The  farmers  of  the  older  States  show  their  real  apprecia- 
tion of  the  American  sheep  by  letting  him  die  out  by  gentle 
diminution.    Even  Ohio  goes  back  on  the  poor  sheep  which 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  299 

has  been  such  a  mainstay  in  politics.  But  politics  knows 
no  friendship,  either  in  sheep  or  man.  Except  for  the  mut- 
ton, sheep  raising  in  the  States  would  become  a  lost  art, 
despite  all  the  efforts  of  our  political  shepherds.  This  is 
shown  bj  the  following  tables  for  the  years  1870  and  1889, 
taken  from  the  Eeports  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture : 

NUMBER  OF  SHEEP  IN  THE  OLD  SHEEP-RAISING  STATES. 

In  Thousands. 
1869-70.  1889. 

1.  Maine 551  543 

2.  New  Hampshire 466  193 

3.  Vermont 976  362 

4.  New  York 4,350  1,548 

5.  Pennsylvania 2,850  945 

6.  Virginia 557  444 

7.  North  Carolina 325  415 

8.  Georgia 275  412 

9.  Tennessee 866  511 

10.  West  Virginia 837  508 

11.  Kentucky 942  806 

12.  Missouri 1,579  1,198 

13.  Illinois 1,991  688 

14.  Indiana 2,160  1,278 

15.  Ohio ■ 6,250  3,943 

16.  Michigan. 8,340  2,240 

17.  Wisconsin 1,670  809 

18.  Iowa 2,003  475 

Total 31,582  17,317 

Number    of    sheep  in    all    the    States    and   Territories  in    1869-70, 
40,853.000. 
Number  of  sheep  in  all  the  States  and  Territories  in  1889,  44,336,000. 
Increase  in  population,  50  per  cent. 
Total  increase  in  sheep,  8^  per  cent. 

Percentage  of  total  in  the  old  StaLes  in  1869-70,  77  per  cent. 
Percentage  of  total  in  the  old  States  in  1889,  39  per  cent. 
Decline  in  number  of  sheep  in  the  old  States,  14,250,000. 
Decline  in  number  of  sheep  in  the  old  States,  45  per  cent. 


800 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 


But  to  make  the  lesson  to  be  taken  from  this  compara- 
tive statement  more  conspicuous  jet,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
show  what  progress  has  been  made  in  the  status  of  other 
live  stock  in  these  agricultural  States,  foremost  in  sheep 
raising  twenty  years  ago. 

COMPARATIVE   STATEMENT  OF   OTHER   LIVE  STOCK 
(IN  THOUSANDS). 

Oxen  and 
Horses.  Milch  Cows.  Hogs. 

1869-70.  1889.  1869-70.  1889.  1869-70.  1889. 

Maine 87  91  385  333  45  62 

New  Hampshire..  48  53  228  219  31  52 

Vermont 65  84  333  404  44  79 

New  York 600  674  2,116  2,336  995  686 

Pennsylvania....  501  607  1,450  1,791  1,014  1,193 

Virginia 220  259  535  692  904  1,009 

North  Carolina. . .  125  154  501  071  850  1,292 

Georgia 108  116  651  935  1,335  1,627 

Tennessee 317  303  541  862  1,505  2,242 

West  Virginia. ...  90  147  311  466  357  486 

Kentucky 321  391  630  841  1,955  2,255 

Missouri 460  790  1,060  2,290  2,300  5,096 

lUinois 881  1,124  1,583  2,786  2,005  5,433 

Indiana 555  668  1,002  1,560  2,025  2,845 

Ohio 724  772  1,502  1,778  1,700  2,611 

Michigan 259  477  685  1,003  462  979 

Wisconsin. 275  438  813  1,480  437  1,087 

Iowa 514  1,995  1,162  3,909  2,500  5,805 

Total. ..  .6,150    7,842     15,488    24,355    20,464    34,855 


These  figures  tell  the  story.  The  decline  in  sheep  raising 
is  evidently  due  to  the  fact  that  the  farmer  long  ago  found 
out  that  his  farm,  and,  along  with  it,  his  income,  are  benefited 
more  by  the  raising  of  live  stock  than  of  sheep.  The 
shepherd  and  the  agriculturist  soon  part  company.  The 
myth  of  Cain  slaying  his  brother  Abel  gives  early  emphasis 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES.  301 

to   an   old   historical  fact.     The  myth   is   the  epitome   of 
history. 

The  United  States  emphasize  this  historical  commonplace 
by  the  decline  of  sheep  from  a  status  of  31,000,000  in 
1869-70  to  one  of  17,000,000  in  1889.  When  agriculture 
expands,  the  wool  sheep  becomes  an  unimportant  incident. 
The  chief  value  centres  then  in  the  mutton.  But  as  the 
more  desirable  mutton  sheep  carries  a  different  character 
of  wool  from  our  wool  breeds,  it  is  the  more  apparent  that 
the  wool  tariff  cannot  help  the  farmer,  but  work  only  injury 
to  the  manufacturer.  That  the  number  of  the  English  sheep 
is  not  allowed  to  decrease  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  carries 
under  his  wool  what  in  time  becomes  most  excellent  mutton. 
Though  our  mutton  is  inferior  to  English  mutton,  yet  it 
brings  equally  good  returns,  and  so  do  the  tallow  and  the 
skin.  But  advocates  of  a  wool  tariff  would  have  us  believe 
that  the  only  salable  value  is  in  the  wool,  and  that  a  pos- 
sible loss  of  60  cents  in  the  entire  fleece  would  ruin  the 
farmers,  a  majority  of  whom  do  not  own  a  single  sheep,  and 
nine-tenths  not  above  three  sheep  on  an  average.  Still  they 
keep  on  paying  fifty  times  that  amount  each  year  on  their 
woolen  goods  in  order  to  keep  up  the  sixty-cent  protection 
on  the  sheep.  The  Irish  statutes  referred  to  above  prompted 
Dean  Swift  to  say  :  "  Ajax  was  mad  when  he  mistook  a 
flock  of  sheep  for  his  enemies,  but  we  shall  never,  be  sober 
until  we  have  the  same  way  of  thinking."  And  this  senti- 
ment very  fitly  applies  to  the  situation  created  in  America 
by  the  high  wool  tariff. 

Other  Disastrous  Effects  of  a  Wool  Tariff. 

One  of  the  greatest  disadvantages  to  the  manufacturer, 
and  to  the  grower,   reversely,  is  the  exclusion  of   foreign 


302  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAOES. 

wools.  He  cannot  mix  his  wools  properly,  and  seldom  has 
the  right  wool  in  the  right  place.  Unless  fashion  gives 
him  a  chance  for  profitably  using  his  favored  American 
brands,  he  will  continue  to  see  foreign  wools  imported  in 
the  manufactured  state  and  given  a  preference  over  his  own. 
The  manufacturer,  by  protection,  has  become  an  exclusion- 
ist.  This  is  more  the  case  in  wool  and  woolens  than  in  any 
other  branch.  He  does  not  study  the  progress  made  in 
Europe,  principally  in  England  and  Germany,  with  as  keen 
an  eye  as  he  would  if  the  pressure  of  competition  were  brought 
nearer  home  to  him.  But  worst  of  all,  he  is  deprived  of 
the  chance  of  a  fair  selection,  because  many  most  desirable 
wools  never  come  to  him.  They  are  excluded  by  the  tariff  or 
neglected  by  the  wool  importer.  But  to  the  English  manu- 
facturer they  are  a  very  profitable  material,  either  for  the 
back,  the  filling,  or  the  entire  fabric.  Despite  their  cheap- 
ness they  have  a  spring  and  elasticity  which  ever  give  cheap 
English  goods  so  much  life  and  character.  The  absence  of 
these  features  in  our  wools,  their  dryness  and  dulness,  make 
our  goods  appear  quite  dead  and  uninteresting  by  the  side 
of  English  corresponding  fabrics. 

A  dense  ignorance  seems  to  prevail  as  to  the  character  of 
the  different  classes  of  wool  so  essential  for  giving  the  fab- 
rics the  stamp  of  genuineness,  without  which  they  cannot 
pass  the  critical  eye  of  trade.  Neglect  and  ignorance  are 
the  worst  enemies  of  industries,  but  they  become  rampant 
under  protective  legislation.  It  would  be  strange  if  woolen 
manufacturers  made  an  exception  to  the  rule.  A  duty 
averaging  some  75  per  cent,  made  them  believe  that  they  had 
fullest  control  of  the  home  market.  The  duty  on  wool,  neu- 
tralizing this  to  a  very  large  extent,  took  away  much  of  their 
chance,  and  besides  made  them  look  to  the  home  growth  as 
the  only  source  of  supply  (except  as  to  the  carpet  wools,  not 


THE  ECONOMY  OP  HIGH  WAGES.  303 

grown  in  America).  The  quantity  of  clothing  and  combing 
wools  imported  is  ridiculously  small,  considering  their 
greater  desirability  at  nearly  equal  prices,  duty  added,  than 
the  corresponding  home  product. 

But  some  of  these  wools  are  practically  excluded  by  the 
tariff  taxing  the  grease  and  dirt  the  same  as  wool,  so  that 
high  shrinkage  wools  cannot  be  imported  at  all,  and,  of 
course,  remain  unknown.  Others  again  could  be  very  ad- 
vantageously brought  in  on  account  of  light  shrinkage,  but 
remain  unknown  on  account  of  the  stream  of  foreign  supply 
not  running  our  way.  Hence,  an  ignorance  of  the  particu- 
lar merits  of  the  various  kinds  has  become  all  but  universal. 

This  was  brought  home  to  me  very  forcibly  in  wools  used 
for  sackings  in  England  (6-4  sackings,  flannel  weave,  used 
for  ladies'  dress),  on  which  I  sent  a  report  to  the  State  De- 
partment The  wool  used  in  the  English  fabric  I  described 
as  "  Cape  or  Sydney  wool,  for  which  they  pay  6|d,  or  13 
cents,  a  pound.  The  wool  shrinks  60  per  cent,  in  scouring, 
with  an  additional  loss  in  manufacturing,  and  yields  Qh 
pounds  of  cloth  to  16  pounds  grease  wool.  The  wool  would 
then  stand  at  16d,  or  32  cents,  per  pound  in  the  cloth." 
Another  mill  used  in  similar  goods  "New  South  Wales 
greasy  lamb,  pieces  and  locks,  of  which  the  present  price  is 
5Jc?.,  or  11  cents,  per  pound."  This  wool  was  much  greasier, 
and  yielded  only  25  per  cent,  of  cloth  to  the  pound  of  greasy 
wool — hence  dearer  in  the  cloth,  though  cheaper  in  the 
wool  price.  No  one  would  think  of  importing  this  class 
of  wool  and  paying  44  cents  duty,  or  100  per  cent,  on  suffi- 
cient wool  to  make  a  pound  of  cloth.  The  editor  of  the 
Boston  Journal  of  Commeixe  gave  expression  to  doubts  con- 
sidering these  prices  quoted  in  my  reports.  He  said :  "  The 
comparative  cost  of  stock  is  evidently  wrong,  for  if  Sydney 
or  Cape  could  be  bought  in  England  at  13  cents  per  pound, 


304  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH   WAGES. 

shrinking  50  per  cent,  the  American  manufacturer  would 
certainly  pay  the  duty  of  10  cents  a  pound,  and  get  his  wool 
at  46  cents  clean,  instead  of  paying  70  cents."  The  matter 
seemed  to  me  somewhat  questionable  too,  and  I  expressed 
my  surprise  to  the  manufacturer  from  whom  I  got  my  in- 
formation first,  at  his  office  in  Leeds.  He  invited  me  out 
to  his  factory,  and  there  took  me  through  the  different  de- 
partments. The  wool  in  question  was  very  fine,  but  very 
short  and  burry.  It  was  not  more  than  from  half  to  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  long,  and  some  parts  did  not  measure 
that  The  burs  were  extracted  by  the  acid  process ;  that  is, 
the  wool  is  subjected  to  an  acid  bath  to  eat  out  the  burs, 
and  then  carbonized  to  kill  the  acid.  This  I  witnessed  with 
my  own  eyes.  Why  our  manufacturers  do  not  make  use  of 
these  wools  of  lighter  shrinkage  can  only  be  explained  on 
the  above  premises.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  what  our  goods  of  this  character  lack  in  bril- 
liancy and  lustre  they  gain  in  strength.  So  far  the  long 
fibre  of  Ohio  wool,  as  represented  in  an  American  sample 
which  I  used  for  comparison,  was  superior  in  wearing  qual- 
ity to  the  short  staple  referred  to  above.  In  this  instance 
the  short  staple  and  the  difficulty  of  extracting  the  burs 
may  offer  an  explanation,  though  by  no  means  a  sufficient 
one,  for  their  exclusion.  But  this  would  not  at  all  explain 
why  our  manufacturers  do  not  use  Scotch  wools  and  Irish 
wools  for  flannels  and  for  tweeds.  They  are  of  very  low 
shrinkage,  and  would  give  an  article  vastly  superior  to  our 
inferior  looking  substitutes. 

At  Inverness  the  best  cheviot  wool,  with  very  light 
shrinkage,  sells  at  22s.  M.  to  24s.  the  stone  of  24  pounds. 
This  is  equal  to  24  cents  a  pound.  The  ordinary  Scotch 
wool  sells  at  about  10s.  the  stone  of  24  pounds,  or  at  about 
10  cents  a  pound.     The  price  at  Leeds  is  about  12  cents. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAQE8.  305 

Nothing  makes  a  more  desirable  article  for  outside  wear, 
men's  suiting,  ulsters,  and  wraps  for  hard  weather,  than 
Irish  wool.  It  is  suitable  for  all  purposes.  It  is  worked 
into  tweeds,  friezes,  worsteds,  knitting  yarn,  etc.  Irish 
wool  has  always  ranked  high,  and  when  it  was  a  felony 
under  the  old  English  law  to  export  wool,  the  most  lively 
contraband  trade  with  France  was  conducted  along  the 
whole  south  and  western  coast  of  Ireland.  Now  the  best 
Irish  wool  sells  at  lis.  the  stone,  or  about  17  to  18  cents  a 
pound.  This  wool  shrinks  from  10  to  12  per  cent,  in  scour- 
ing. Knitting  yarn  made  of  it  is  sold  by  the  mill  at  16c?.,  or 
82  cents  a  pound.  Against  this  our  corresponding  wools 
cost  near  30  cents,  with  a  shrinkage  in  scouring  of  from  35 
to  50  per  cent.  I  have  kept  samples  of  all  the  fabrics  in 
which  these  wools  are  used.  The  most  superficial  exami- 
nation would  convince  any  one  of  the  superior  character  of 
these  wools,  and  that  it  would  be  profitable  to  employ 
them  in  our  tweed,  serge,  cheviot,  and  worsted  mills.  The 
crispness  and  spring  of  an  Irish  tweed  before  me,  54  inches 
wide  and  23  ounces  in  weight,  at  35.  9o?.,  less  cash  discount, 
85  cents  (all  pure  Irish  wool),  and  the  dull,  cottony  appear- 
ance of  an  American  tweed,  22  ounces  in  weight  (the  filling 
wool  and  shoddy),  and  selling  at  the  time  at  $1.25,  less  the 
discount,  would  convince  anybody  that  these  wools  would 
give  character  to  our  goods  and  make  them  more  desirable 
than  the  spurious  ones  going  under  that  name,  without 
increasing  the  cost. 

Many  other  kinds  of  foreign  wools  could  be  mentioned, 
equally  low  in  price  as  these,  and  cheaper  than  Am-erican 
wool  of  corresponding  character,  duty  paid,  on  account  of 
their  lower  shrinkage  in  the  scouring.  I  submitted  some 
wool  samples  of  American  growth  to  Mr.  Bowes  of  Liver- 
pool, an  acknowledged  authority  in  all  matter  concerning 
20 


806 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


woo],  for  comparison  witb  foreign  wools  used  in  England. 
He  selected  the  corresponding  brands  and  sent  them  to  an 
expert  in  Leeds  for  analysis  with  these  results  : 

1.  Ohio  XX. 


2.  Fine,  year's  growth,  Texas. 

8.  Fall  shearing,  Texas. 

4.  Medium  Colorado. 

5.  Spring  California. 

6.  Coarse  Colorado. 


7.  Superior    New     Zealand,    un- 

washed. 

8.  Average    New    Zealand,    un- 

washed. 

9.  Ordinary    New    Zealand,    un- 

washed. 

10.  Ordinary  Cape,  unwashed. 

11.  Montevideo,  unwashed. 

12.  Georgian,  unwashed. 


They  stood  after  scouring  as  follows 


Pbices  Unscoubed. 

Scoured  Prices. 

Feb  Cent.  Loss  ik 
scoubino. 

KUMBERS. 

1 

< 

"bb 

1 

1 

i 

i 
•c 

a 

< 

.1 

1  and  7 

2  and  8 

3and9 

4  and  10 

5  and  11 

Carpet  wool 

6  and  12 

Cents. 
33 

m 

21 

m 

21i 
1-4^ 

Cents. 

22 

15 

13 

10 

13 

m 

Cents- 
67.5 
61.4 
65.6 
48.8 
70.7 

14.0 

Cents. 
35.9 
83.0 
23.4 
23.5 
24.7 

14.0 

51.12 
61.71 
68.00 
58.00 
69.70 

27.81 

38.67 
54.57 
44.05 
57.31 
47.39 

16.74 

We  have  here  three  numbers  of  colonial  growth  (7,  8,  and 
9),  at  13  cents,  and  below  and  at  even  a  lower  shrinkage 
than  the  one  referred  to  by  the  editor  of  the  Journal  of 
Commerce.  The  fact,  as  he  states,  that  "  the  manufacturer 
does  not  pay  the  duty  and  import  these  wools,"  does  not 
at  all  disprove  their  existence,  their  profitable  employment 
by  foreign  manufacturers,  and  their  importation  in  the  form 
of  manufactured  goods.  By  their  aid,  more  than  by  the 
cheapness  of  the  labor,  can  so  many  goods  be  brought  in 
under  the  present  high  tariff,  and  much  to  the  astonishment 
of  our  manufacturers. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  307 

Decline  in  "Wool — Increase  in  Shoddy. 

But  if  sheep  and  wool  have  not  increased,  despite  an  in- 
crease of  50  per  cent,  in  population,  the  importations  of  wool 
and  woolens  have  by  no  means  been  proportionate  to  the 
gap  to  be  filled.  Our  wool  imports  for  1870  were  49,000,- 
000  pounds,  and  for  1890  105,000,000  pounds,  81,000,000 
pounds  of  which  were  carpet  wools,  leaving  only  25,000,000 
pounds  of  clothing  wool.  The  increase  in  clothing  and 
combing  wool  importation  is  slight,  relatively  speaking. 

The  woolen  importations  for  1870  were  $34,500,000,  and 
$56,000,000  for  1890.  Much  of  this  large  importation  of 
woolens  is  traceable  to  the  tariff  on  wool.  These  woolen 
imports  show  a  considerable  falling  off  for  1891,  but  they 
are  by  no  means  made  up  by  the  increase  in  raw-wool  im- 
portations of  Class  1  and  Class  2  (an  increase  of  $3,000,000, 
against  a  falling  off  in  woolens  of  something  like  $15,000,- 
000  to  $20,000,000).  It  is  admitted  that  the  woolen  indus- 
try of  the  country  had  for  some  time  not  been  in  so 
depressed  a  condition  as  in  the  two  years  following  the 
passage  of  the  McKinley  bill.  Combining  all  these  facts,  it 
will  be  seen  that  neither  wool  nor  woolens  based  on  the  con- 
sumable quantity  of  wool  are  produced  in  anything  like  the 
quantities  of  1870,  considering  the  increase  in  population. 

At  the  same  time  we  cheerfully  chronicle  the  fact  that 
we  have  not  gone  back  to  paradisaical  conditions,  but  that 
our  people  apparently  wear  woolen  clothing.  The  supply 
was  never  so  abundant,  if  the  trade  aspects  (depression  in 
woolens)  reported  by  trade  papers  far  and  wide  have  any 
meaning.  More  machinery  is  employed  and  more  backs  are 
covered.  Mr.  Porter  says  that  we  manufactured  $344,000,- 
000  in  1890,  against  $276,000,000  in  1880.  But  where  does 
the  wool  come  from  ?     Well,  can  woolens  be  made  of  wool 


308 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 


only  ?  By  no  means.  We  live  in  a  progressive  age,  and 
if  wool  is  made  artificially  high,  we  help  ourselves  by  re- 
course to  art,  and  substitute  '"art  wool"  (the  German  term 
"  Kunst-wolle  "),  shoddy,  for  real  wool,  more  and  more  from 
year  to  year, 

A  comparison  of  the  quantities  of  wool  and  wool  substi- 
tutes entering  our  mills  in  the  two  census  years  will  make 
this  plain. 

QUANTITIES  OF  RAW   MATERIALS  CONSUMED  IN  1880  AND 
1890  IN  WOOLENS  AND  WORSTEDS  (IN  THOUSANDS). 


Wool 

scourad. 

lbs. 

Shoddy, 
lbs. 

Camel's- 

hair  and 

noils. 

lbs. 

Mohair 

and 
noils. 

lbs. 

All  nf-hor                      All  other 
hnir         Cotton,   materials. 
■JJlf-            lbs.       including 
yarns. 

1890 

1880 

155,236 
135,095 

54,470 
46,773 

6,192 
1,441 

2,098 
115 

10,702 
4,498 
6,204 

41,040  $33,500 
26,501     31,480 

19,141 

7,697 

4,751 

1,983 

14,539  $12,020 

The  reader  can  draw  his  own  inferences  from  this  parallel. 
Wool  has  increased  19  million  pounds,  about  15  per  cent. 
Wool  substitutes,  shoddy,  hair,  and  cotton,  have  increased 
85,000,000  pounds  over  the  79,000,000  pounds  consumed  in 
1880,  or  about  40  per  cent.  This  does  not  take  into  ac- 
count the  great  proportion  of  cotton  warps  contained  in 
the  item  of  "All  other  materials."  Nor  do  I  draw  into  this 
comparison  a  similar  decline  in  the  proportion  of  real  wool 
to  substitutes  which  took  place  in  the  decade  from  1870 
to  1880. 

In  1870  the  consumption  of  shoddy  in  our  woolen  mills 
was  17,500,000  pounds ;  in  1880  it  was  46,000,000  pounds. 
Exclusive  of  carpet  wools,  we  consume  in  woolens  and  worst- 
eds some  260,000,000  to  275,000,000  pounds  of  grease  wool, 
home  growth  and  imported.     This  wool  shrinks  more  than  is 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  309 

given  in  the  census  report.  If  we  assume  the  shrinkage  in 
the  scouring  to  be  only  50  per  cent.,  there  would  be  left  135,- 
000,000  pounds  of  clean  wool  to  be  put  against  112,000,000 
of  substitutes,  shoddy,  hair  and  cotton.  Such  facts  in  their 
brutal,  massive  force  point  out  a  state  of  decadence  under 
oppressive  tariff  taxation,  principally  taxation  of  raw  mate- 
rials, far  more  graphically  than  any  dissertation  could. 


CHAPTER   XL 

Woolens  and  Worsteds. — Method  pursued  in  Comparative  Inquiry. — 
Inadequacy  of  Inquiry  of  National  Bureau  of  Labor. — Labor  Cost  in 
Worsteds  in  America  and  England. — Failure  of  America  in  Spite  of 
Tariff  Increase. — Reasons. — All  the  Benefits  reaped  by  Great  Cor- 
porations.—General  Depression  in  Woolens  and  Worsteds  following 
the  Tariff  Increase. 

In  an  industry  as  varied  as  "Woolens,"  it  will  readily 
be  admitted  no  satisfactory  evidence  could  be  gained  for 
comparing  cost  of  production,  except  by  the  plan  here 
adopted :  to  select  American  samples  of  products  of  leading 
branches  of  the  industry,  find  the  places  in  England  where 
corresponding  goods  are  manufactured,  and  there  obtain  all 
available  information  for  comparison  with  the  American 
data.  Nobody  at  all  conversant  with  manufacturing,  or 
commercial  matters,  even,  could  possibly  think  of  any  other 
method.  There  are  dozens  of  different  articles,  and  as  many 
qualities  in  each  leading  branch.  Bach  article  bears  a  dif- 
ferent percentage  of  labor  to  material.  The  finer  tissues 
have  more  yards  to  the  pound  of  wool,  hence  higher  spin- 
ning cost  and  greater  weaving  expense  than  the  coarser  or 
heavier  goods.  In  mixed  goods,  in  shoddy  and  cotton,  etc., 
the  labor  cost  would  be  rather  more  than  less  than  in  the 
all-wool  article,  on  account  of  the  greater  difficulty  of  work- 
ing poor  yarns  than  good,  sound  ones.  Yet  the  ratio  of 
labor  to  material,  equal  in  the   shoddy  or  mixed   goods, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  811 

would  under  the  same  labor  cost  be  1  to  2  or  3  in  the  all- 
wool  labric.  But  still  so  plain  and  natural  a  method  has 
never  been  followed,  while  others  which  could  not  lead  to 
any  bat  spurious  results  were  pursued  for  want  of  better 
knowledge,  showing  again  that  the  most  commonplace 
truths  are  most  liable  to  be  overlooked  in  the  theoretic 
treatment  of  economic  questions.  Taking  50  for  wool  and 
25  for  labor  in  a  pound  of  all-wool  cloth  in  England,  the  re- 
lations are  2  material  and  1  labor.  In  the  shoddy  article 
we  should  have,  let  us  say,  20  for  material  and  20  for  labor, 
and  get  relations  of  1  to  1.  Finer  goods,  requiring  more 
labor,  would  perhaps  stand  :  wool  60  and  labor  90,  or  2  to  3. 
This  is  the  case  in  a  great  number  of  the  higher  grade  fab- 
rics. Adding  these  three  representative  formulas,  we  get  5 
for  material  and  5  for  labor :  cost  of  material  and  cost  of 
labor  would  be  equal  in  such  classification  as  pursued  by 
the  census,  though  the  items  be  as  different  as  has  been 
shown.  Upon  such  statistical  data  our  economic  deductions 
are  based.  Adding  up  columns  of  unrelated  parts  and 
drawing  averages  from  them  has  been  the  chief  employment 
of  official  labor  statisticians.  Eecent  publications  show 
that  this  is  not  an  exaggerated  statement.  For  comparison 
with  other  countries  such  methods  would  become  still  more 
hazardous.  In  America,  with  the  high  cost  of  materials, 
any  given  ratio  of  labor  to  material  would  express  condi- 
tions entirely  different  from  those  expressed  by  the  same 
ratio  in  countries  where  the  raw  material  is  untaxed,  and 
therefore  represents  not  more  than  one-half  or  two-thirds  the 
American  cost. 

For  example,  if  we  take  the  ratio  of  England  in  the  three 
kinds  of  goods  named,  and  translate  the  formula  into  Amer- 
ican prices  of  wool,  with  equal  cost  in  labor  as  paid  in  Eng- 
land, we  should  obtain  the  following  relations: 


312  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

{a)  ENGLISH  COST. 

Material.                      Labor.  Ratio. 

1 50                          25  2:1 

2 20                          20  1:1 

3 60                          90  2:3 

5:5 
(b)  AMERICAN  COST. 
Material.  Labor.  Ratio. 

1 90  25  9  :2i 

2 30  20  3:2 

3 100  90  10:9 

The  total  here  reached  would  be  22  :  13 j,  or  about  63 
per  cent,  material  against  37  per  cent,  labor.  Labor,  though 
at  the  same  cost  as  in  England,  would  be  quoted  as  less 
in  the  cost  of  the  fabric,  a  fact  of  not  infrequent  occurrence 
in  deductions  and  debates  based  on  statistical  tables.  So 
without  going  much  farther,  it  will  be  seen  that  comparisons 
on  averages  and  percentages  are  out  of  the  question.  For 
the  same  reason  a  comparison  between  European  and  Amer- 
ican cost  on  the  basis  of  the  pound  weight  "  in  woolens," 
as  has  lately  been  attempted,  will  be  equally  impracticable. 
Another  method  pursued  is  the  subject  of  the  report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  at  Washington.  His  report  covers 
not  less  than  237  numbers  of  woolens,  worsteds,  dress-goods, 
flannels,  etc.  But  strange  to  say,  though  quite  a  number 
of  the  bureau's  agents  were  scattered  over  Europe  for  the 
last  two  or  three  years  to  collect  data,  none  of  the  foreign 
goods  reported  on  resemble  either  in  name  or  character  any 
of  the  goods  classified  as  from  America.  Comparing  an 
article  with  itself  does  not  impart  much  information.  But 
even  percentage  calculations  or  pound  comparisons  from 
this  report  would  be  entirely  impossible  aside  from  the 
strictures  made  above,  because  in  the  English  materials  we 
have  the  yarn  as  the  basis,  in  the  American,  the  wool.     In 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  313 

the  English  the  dyeing,  done  outside,  is  an  entirely  different 
coefficient  than  in  America,  where  it  is  done  in  the  mill.  In 
America  it  is  part  of  mill  labor ;  in  England  it  appears 
under  a  different  heading.  Comparisons  must  be  based  on 
commercial  realities,  figures,  weight,  and  measure  of  identi- 
cal objects,  and  report  facts  which  can  at  all  times  be  proven 
or  disproven.  Subject  to  the  dissecting  criticism  of  politi- 
cal and  industrially  interested  opponents,  their  accuracy 
must  be  considered  established  if  they  stand  this  severest  of 
all  tests. 

Worsteds   and  Combed  Yarn  Goods. 

People  have  of  late  years  become  familiar  with  woi'steds, 
by  the  attention  the  article  received  in  the  press  through 
the  discussions  in  Congress  and  litigations  in  the  courts. 
The  tariff  was  increased  from  35  cents  a  pound  and  35  per 
cent,  ad  valorem  for  goods  over  60  cents  and  under  80 
cents  a  pound  (the  goods  forming  the  bulk  of  importations) 
to  the  new  duty  of  44  cents  a  pound  and  50  per  cent,  ad 
valo7'em.  The  manufacturers  obtained  four  times  the  duty 
of  grease  wool  in  the  pound  of  cloth,  though  it  barely  takes 
3  pounds  of  Ohio  wool  to  manufacture  a  pound  of  worsted 
cloth.  A  worsted  mill  whose  accounts  I  was  permitted  to 
make  extracts  from  had  used  275  pounds  of  wool  in  100 
pounds  of  yarn.  Bradford  manufacturers  in  a  recent  state- 
ment declared  that  when  using  Botany  wool  in  warp  and 
weft  they  require  34  ounces  of  grease  wool  in  every  16 
ounces  of  cloth.  This  would  be  212|  pounds  of  grease 
wool  only  in  100  pounds  of  cloth.  With  a  full  11  cents 
extra  protection  in  the  cloth  (allowing  3  pounds  of  wool 
even  to  the  pound  of  cloth  protected  by  3x11=33),  and  50 
per  cent  on  the  total  value,  all  difficulties  ought  to  seem 
removed,  the  foreign  imports  to  be  stopped,  and  satisfaction 


314  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

and  quiet  to  rule  supreme  among  tlie  manufacturers  of 
worsteds.  But  no.  By  their  own  admission  things  are  not 
as  expected  when  they  obtained  their  full  allowance  in 
the  McKinley  act.  It  will  be  an  interesting  object  lesson 
to  go  hunting  for  the  causes  of  failure  while  outside  appear- 
ances all  seem  to  be  favoring  success. 

The  Labor. 

The  first  consideration  is  the  labor.  We  are  willing  to 
concede  its  higher  cost  in  worsted  manufacturing.  In  Phila- 
delphia, especially,  the  worsted  mills  have  to  pay  higher  rates 
than  in  the  country  near  by,  or  in  Ehode  Island  and  Mas- 
sachusetts. Labor. is  scarce,  and,  on  account  of  the  great 
variety  of  kindred  industries,  in  constant  demand  there. 
But  still  it  is  a  determinable  quantity.  I  made  an  inquiry 
into  the  relative  labor  cost  of  a  yard  of  sixteen-ounce  black 
worsteds  (so-called  corkscrews)  from  the  wool  up.  I  took 
an  American  sample  of  the  goods,  with  all  the  details  of 
cost  of  the  various  divisions,  and  made  comparisons  on  the 
same  article  in  Bradford.  It  must  be  understood  that  Brad- 
ford is  the  lowest  place  in  England,  and  Philadelphia  the 
highest  in  America  for  the  manufacture  of  these  goods.  At 
Huddersfield  the  cost  would  be  higher  for  England,  in 
Ehode  Island  lower  for  America. 

There  are  differences  in  the  manufacturing  methods,  as 
in  almost  all  other  manufacturing  branches  treated  in  this 
inquiry,  relative  to  America  and  England. 

The  American  mill  manufactures  the  cloth  from  the  wool. 
The  English  buys  the  yarn,  weaves  the  cloth,  and  has  the 
dyeing  and  finishing  done  outside.  The  supplies  and  gen- 
eral expense  account  in  the  American  mill  are  distributed 
over  the  whole  cost  from  the  wool  to  the  cloth.  In  the  Eng- 
lish account  the  spinning  mill  as  well  as  the  dyeing  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


315 


finishing  establishments  had  to  be  investigated  separately. 
Each  of  these  three  stands  in  the  nature  of  commission  spin- 
ner, commission  dyer,  or  commission  finisher  toward  the 
weaver  or  manufacturer  or  the  commission  merchant,  who 
frequently  employs  all  four.  Each  of  the  four,  of  course, 
charges  a  profit  on  the  product  of  his  own  works.  The 
labor,  however,  is  net  expense  in  every  item. 

In  the  cost  of  spinning,  doubling,  and  twisting,  no  differ- 
ence exists.  Nor  could  I  find  any  in  the  combing,  which  is 
a  separate  branch  in  England.  A  difference  only  exists  in 
the  sorting  cost,  being  hand  labor.  The  comparison  will 
show  this : 

1.  The  cost  of  spinning  a  pound  of  No.  2-40  yarn : 

Pennsylvania.  Bradford. 

Labor.    Expense.      Labor. 


Cents.       Cents. 


Sorting 3.00 

Scouring  and  carding 1.13 

Combing 2 .  48 

Spinning 2 .  63 

Doubling  and  twisting 2.29 

11.53 


32 


Cents. 
1.5 

3.5 
4.5 
9.5 


etc. 
Cents. 


3.5 


3.5 


7.0 


The  total  cost  of  the  yarn  is  higher  in  England,  because 
of  the  profit  of  the  wool  comber  and  the  spinner,  contained 
under  expense,  which  is  not  contained  in  the  American 
mill  account. 

2.  In  the  weaving  I  found  the  labor  and  expense : 


Pennsylvania. 


Labor. 

Cents. 

Weaving 16.2 

Warping 3.7 

Mending  and  burning 4.5 

24.4 


Expense 
Cents 


Labor. 

Cents. 

7.N 

1.8 

1.8 

10.77 


Bradford. 

Expense, 

etc. 

Cents. 


7.17 


7.17 


316 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


3.  In  the  dyeing  the  account  stands : 


Dyeing 1.0 

Finishing,  etc 3.1 

Total 4.1 


Pbnnstxvania. 

BsAnFORD. 

Supplies 

and 

Sup- 

Labor.    Expense. 

Labor,    plies,  etc. 

Cents.       Cents. 

Cents.        Cents. 

.  1.0          4.3 

2.7          2.9 

.  3.1          1.0 

2.0          4.0 

5.3 


4.7 


6.9 


The  4.3  cents  in  the  dyeing  includes  soap  and  coal  besides 
the  dyestuff.  The  mill  used  water  power  besides.  In 
recapitulating,  we  obtain  the  following  collective  data: 


Pennsylvania. 
Labor.    Expense. 

Cents.        Cents. 


Bradford. 
Labor.    Expense. 


No.    1.    Sorting,    scouring,  and 
carding,  combing  and  spinning.  11 .  53 

No.  2.  Weaving,  etc 24. 4 

No.  3.   Dyeing  and  finishing 4.1 

To  the  expense  has  to  be  added, 

weekly  wages  and  salaries 

General  expenses  and  sundries 


1.32 

5.3 

2.70 
1.32 


Cents. 

9.5 
10.77 

4.7 


Cents. 

7.0 

7.17 

6.9 


Total 40.03      10.64      24.97    21.07 

A  difference  of  15  cents  in  labor,  mainly  in  the  weaving, 
while  in  all  other  departments  the  labor  cost  is  nearly  the 
same.  And  this  is  all  the  labor  difference  in  worsted  coat- 
ings. The  cost  difference,  however,  is  only  one  of  5  cents 
between  the  goods  leaving  the  finishing  room  in  America, 
and  the  English  goods  re-entering  the  office  of  the  manufac- 
turer or  the  commission  merchant,  when  returned  from  the 
finisher's  shop. 

The  cloth  in  England  was  then  worth  4s.  2d.  net,  or  $1  a 
yard.  The  labor  and  other  associated  items  given  above  as 
46.04  cents  bring  up  the  cost  to  94.04  cents.     Landed  in 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  817 

New  York  with  duty  at  35  cents  a  pound  and  40  per  cent. 
ad  valorem 

Brings  the  cloth  to  cost $1.75 

Add  7  per  cent,  discount 16 

Add  importer's  profit 25 

These  goods  could  not  be  sold  at  less  than $2.16 

from  first  hand. 

The  asking  price  of  the  American  goods  was  $2.25,  less 
5  per  cent.,  and  7  per  cent,  cash  discount,  which  is  $2.13^, 
less  7  per  cent.,  or  $1.98  net.  From  this  we  have  to  deduct 
the  selling  expense,  7  per  cent,  to  the  commission  merchant, 
and  other  possible  charges,  say  10  per  cent.,  and  we  have 
net  $1.78  to  the  manufacturer's  credit.     The  goods  cost  in 

Labor,  etc. ,  as  shown  above 40.03 

Supplies  and  other  expenses 10.65 

The  wool  stood 84.10 

Total $1.34.78 

leaving  under  the  old  law  43  cents  for  profit  and  to  what- 
ever capital  charges.  The  difference  in  the  labor  and 
general  manufacturing  cost  is  5  cents,  but  in  the  cost  of 
the  wool  36  cents,  or  10  per  cent,  more  in  the  former  and 
75  per  cent,  more  in  the  wool. 

In  order  to  be  able  to  test  the  general  applicability  of  this 
account,  I  obtained  a  corroborating  statement  from  a  Phila- 
delphia manufacturer  who  buys  the  yarn.  He  stated  the 
weaving  price  in  his  mill  to  be  19/v  cents,  or  3^  cents 
more  than  paid  in  the  mill  cited  above.  The  Philadel- 
phian's  admission  of  paying  higher  rates  than  elsewhere  fully 
corroborates  the  above.  This  manufacturer  is  an  importer 
as  well.  He  has  the  yarn  bought,  the  worsteds  woven,  and 
frequently  imported  in  the  gray,  and  dyed  in  Philadelphia. 
He  finds  labor  in  dyeing  cheaper  in  Philadelphia  than  in 


318  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Bradford.  At  any  rate,  he  can  get  worsted  coating  djed  in 
outside  establishments  at  6  cents.  Hence  the  dyeing  rates 
are  not  different  in  his  finding  from  those  stated  in  the  com- 
parison. The  other  parts  in  the  weaving  department  he 
covers  bj  40  per  cent,  of  the  weaving  rate,  and  this  part, 
along  with  general  and  finishing  expense,  supplies,  etc. — in 
fact,  every  item  of  getting  the  goods  ready  for  the  market — 
would  be  fully  covered,  according  to  their  rule  (the  rule  of 
the  Bradford  commission  weavers)  of  reckoning,  by  the 
additional  charge  of  the  weaving  rate. 
Hence  the  two  compare : 

Outside 

Philadelphia.  Philadelphia. 

Cents.  Cents. 

Weaving  labor 19.6  16.3 

Othei"  labor  in  weaving  and  finishing,  weekly 

wages,  salaries,  and  supplies 19.6  16.32 

Dyeing 6.0  5.1 

45.2  37.72 

The  Yarn. 

The  spinning  cost,  as  has  been  shown  above,  is  not  differ- 
ent from  Bradford  rates.  The  American  mill  from  which  I 
got  the  above  data  turned  out  6,500  pounds  of  yarn  a 
week,  woven  into  cloth  on  the  premises.  Here  the  spinning 
cost  is  12.85  cents  and  the  wool  84  cents — a  total  of  96.85 
cents.  That  this  is  a  substantially  correct  net  cost  statement 
for  yarn  spinning  is  proven  by  the  fact,  that  the  Philadelphia 
house  referred  to,  and  whose  reputation  for  ability  and  fair 
dealing  stands  second  to  none,  imported  Bradford  yarns  of 
the  same  numbers  and  corresponding  quality  of  wool  at  30 
pence,  or  60  cents,  and  paid  duty  on  yarn,  18  cents  a  pound ; 
35  per  cent,  ad  valorem.,  20  cents;  charges  to  land,  5  cents  ; 
a  total  of  $1.03. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  319 

As  domestic  yarns  are  always  held  somewhat  below  Eng- 
lish yarns,  the  two  come  remarkably  close.  The  American 
yarn  could  certainly  not  cost  the  spinner,  then,  above  the 
price  stated  and  find  a  market  among  manufacturers  of 
worsteds,  who  are  but  sparingly  supplied  with  machinery 
for  combing  and  spinning  worsted  yarns.  An  additional 
cost  is  probably  to  be  added  to  the  yam  for  loss  in  the  weav- 
ing. But  this  would  not  exceed  10  cents  in  the  pound  of 
cloth  in  our  calculation.  Making  allowance  for  all  the  contin- 
gencies, under  the  old  law  the  manufacturer  who  made  his 
own  yarn  had  a  profit  of  85  cents,  and  if  he  bought  his  yarn, 
of  20  to  25  cents,  a  yard.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that 
American  worsteds  never  ranked  with  English  worsteds.  It 
is,  therefore,  by  no  means  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  the 
above-quoted  selling  price  at  all  represented  the  price  gener- 
ally realized.  Still  the  margin  of  profit  was  large  enough 
under  the  then  existing  tariff  to  give  ample  protection  to 
competent  manufacturers.  But  an  increase  of  protection 
was  asked  for  under  many  misrepresentations  at  the  time. 
Under  the  new  tariff  the  duty  on  these  same  goods  is  four 
times  the  duty  of  unscoured  wool,  or  44  cents  a  pound  and 
50  per  cent  ad  valorem.  This  brings  our  4s.  2d,  or  $1, 
cloth  up  to  $1.94,  instead  of  $1.75,  as  above — an  additional 
20  cents,  even  where  not  necessary  from  the  producer's  stand- 
point. He  ought  to  be  satisfied  surely  from  the  face  of  the 
thing.  But  he  is  not ;  and,  what  is  more,  he  has  reason  for  his 
dissatisfaction.  He  probably  knows  by  this  time  that  pro- 
tection cuts  both  ways.  We  have  here  a  most  forcible  illus- 
tration of  the  neutralization  of  protection  by  the  burdens  it 
creates.  Yarn  has  been  increased  in  duty  from  18  cents  a 
pound  and  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem  (in  this  quality)  to  three 
and  a  half  times  the  wool  duty,  or  38|^  cents  and  40  per  cent. 
ad  valorem.     The  manufacturer  who  used  to  import  foreign 


320  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  EIOH  WAGES. 

yams  at  $1.03  a  pound  would  now  have  to  pay  60  cents  pins 
88^  plus  24  plus  6  cents,  or  $1.27^,  a  clear  100  per  cent,  duty 
on  yarn.  In  reality,  No.  2-40  worsted  yarn,  made  of  Austra- 
lian wool,  is  worth  in  the  Philadelphia  market  from  $1.22  J  to 
$1.25,  and  of  American  wool  about  $1.17^  to  $1.20.  Great 
profits  are  made  by  the  yarn  makers  to  the  detriment  of  the 
cloth  industry.  The  manufacturer  who  has  to  buy  his  yarn, 
and  the  majority  of  the  makers  of  worsteds  are  in  that  posi- 
tion, is  now  worse  off  than  before  the  increase. 

On  the  cost  of  the  worsted  cloth  in  reference,  the  results 
are  as  follows : 

Protection  before  the  advent  of  McKinley,  75  cents. 
Protection  after  the  advent  of  McKinley,  94  cents. 

Tarn '. . 

Dyeing,  shrinkage  of  yarn  in  manufacturing,  etc. 
Manufacturing  cost,  including  labor  and  expense. . 

Total $1.57  $1.83i 

He  has  19  cents  extra  protection,  but  has  to  pay  26^  cents 
more,  or  7^  cents  in  excess  of  what  he  got  in  the  great 
bargain  he  brought  home  frotn  Washington  Fair.  But  the 
troubles  invited  by  the  tariff  increase  are  not  ended  here. 
Of  course,  the  foreign  manufacturer  will  not  let  his  best 
market  slip  from  under  his  fingers.  He  improves  the  oppor- 
tunities which  the  incapables  who  framed  these  laws  offer 
him  so  freely.  He  has  the  free  choice  of  all  the  wools  of  the 
globe.  We  have  seen  how  he  profits  by  it.  He  makes  the 
sixteen-ounce  summer  article  to  weigh  fourteen  or  fifteen 
ounces  ;  the  twenty-two-ounce  winter  cloth  to  weigh  twenty 
ounces,  and  thus  saves  first  one-eighth  pound,  or  one-eighth 
of  44  cents — b^  cents.  He  reduces  the  cost  a  few  cents  here 
and  a  few  cents  there — and  there  is  always  some  margin  in 
manufacturing  for  economy,  when  closely  pressed — and,  by 


$1.03 

$1.27i 

15 

17 

39 

39 

THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  321 

practicing  these  and  by  the  savings  in  duty,  is  enabled  to  sell 
his  all-worsted  cloth  even  at  a  little  less  than  the  price  before 
the  new  law  went  into  effect.  Of  course,  we  know  that  this 
is  not  fair  in  our  cousin  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  He 
ought  to  have  given  warning  to  our  Philadelphia  friends. 
But  we  are  not  moral  teachers,  and  have  to  regard  the  de- 
pravity of  human  nature  in  trade  matters  as  a  fact  to  be 
accepted  without  discussion.  Our  manufacturers  endeavor 
to  meet  this.  But  how  ?  An  analysis  recently  undertaken 
by  the  Dry  Goods  Economist  gives  the  following  facts  : 

A  worsted  fabric,  weighing  twenty-two  to  twenty-three 
ounces,  varying  in  price  from  a  piece-dyed,  solid  black  at 
$1.50  to  fancy  weaves  from  $1.62J  to  $1.75,  was  found  to 
be  made  up  of  a  worsted  warp,  which  only  composed  the 
face  and  constituted  28  per  cent,  of  the  weight,  and  the 
filling  making  the  balance  of  72  per  cent,  and  entirely 
cotton  and  shoddy,  in  the  proportion  of  92|^  per  cent,  of 
cotton  and  7^  per  cent,  of  shoddy.  A  finer  fabric,  sell- 
ing at  $2.42^,  was  to  all  appearances  a  solid  worsted 
fabric,  both  face  and  back.  An  examination,  however, 
proved  these  appearances  deceptive.  The  worsted  of  three- 
eighths  and  delaine  stock,  yet  every  alternate  pick  of  filling 
was  cotton,  as  also  the  warp  between  the  filling  cord  and 
the  back  warp.  Thus  we  have  a  cloth  which  every  one  but 
an  expert  would  call  an  all-wool  worsted  cloth,  containing 
21  per  cent,  of  cotton  and  79  per  cent,  of  worsted. 

A  third  example  shows  that  the  percentage  of  worsted  to 
the  rest  of  the  fabric  varies  from  35  to  40  per  cent.,  accord- 
ing to  the  pattern.  The  remainder  of  the  cloth  was  cotton. 
Another  fabric,  a  worsted-faced  suiting  cloth  which  sells 
at  $2,  was  composed  of  58  per  cent,  delaine  worsted,  while 
the  back,  composing  the  rest  of  the  piece,  was  entirely 
cotton. 

21 


322  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Another  cloth  was  a  cotton-filled,  piece-dyed  worsted, 
three-fourth  width,  ranging  in.  price  from  38  cents  to  62|- 
cents  per  yard.  The  worsted  warp  is  chiefly  composed  of 
quarter-blood,  and  comprises  from  20  to  45  per  cent,  of  the 
total  weight  of  the  cloth.  The  filling  is  entirely  cotton, 
and  makes  up  the  balance  of  80  to  55  per  cent,  of  the 
weight. 

From  these  cotton  and  shoddy  and  part-worsted  fabrics 
we  rise  to  the  better  and  best  grades.  But  even  these  are 
only  half  worsted  yarn  and  half  wool  yam.  The  consumer 
has  to  be  content  with  three-quarters  cotton  and  shoddy, 
and  one-quarter  worsted,  at  prices  for  which  he  could 
get  all-worsted  fabrics  if  wool  were  free  of  duty.  He  has 
the  choice  between  wearing  heavy  and  baggy  cotton-and- 
wool  suits,  or  paying  the  difference  and  keeping  to  the 
foreign  article.  In  the  lighter  weights  he  has  selected  this 
latter  course,  and  appearances  seem  to  indicate  that  he  will 
incline  to  this  even  in  a  large  measure  in  the  heavier 
weights  so  long  as  worsteds  will  keep  in  good  demand. 
But  in  either  way  he  gets  cheated.  He  either  gets  for  his 
dollar's  worth  of  worsteds  more  cotton  and  shoddy,  or  less 
weight  of  wool  in  the  yard  than  before.  A  clear  blood  tax, 
take  it  as  you  please. 

That  under  such  conditions  large  importations  would  con- 
tinue is  but  a  matter  of  course.  In  no  year  was  the  depres- 
sion so  deep  as  in  the  year  and  a  half  following  the  Mc- 
Kinley  act.  That  the  importations  fell  off  considerably  in 
this  line  is  due  entirely  to  the  change  in  fashion  from 
worsteds  to  cheviots  and  other  soft  wool  fabrics,  and  not  to 
the  duty  increase,  as  is  manifest  from  the  above  compar- 
isons. The  real  worsted  cloth  is  brought  from  abroad,  and 
is  not  to  any  greater  extent  interfered  with  by  the  home 
product  than  was  the  case  before  the  enactment 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  323 

Italian  Cloths 

were  not  very  successfully  brought  out  as  articles  of  manu- 
facture in  America,  though  the  duties  ranged  way  up  in  the 
eighties  and  nineties. 

Some  $5,000,000  worth  of  Italian  cloths  were  imported 
annually  under  these  rates  of  a  compound  duty :  For  goods 
under  20  cents  per  square  yard,  5  cents  per  square  yard  and 
85  per  cent;  and  above  20  cents,  7  cents  per  square  yard 
and  40  per  cent;  and  if  weighing  over  4  ounces,  35  cents 
per  pound  and  40  per  cent,  ad  vahrem.  This  has  been 
changed,  and  stands  now  as  follows :  For  goods  not  exceed- 
ing 15  cents  per  square  yard,  7  cents  per  square  yard  and 
40  per  cent  ad  valorem  ;  for  goods  exceeding  15  cents  per 
square  yard,  8  cents  per  square  yard  and  50  per  cent  ad 
valorem;  and  for  goods  weighing  over  4  ounces  per  square 
yard,  44  cents  a  pound  and  50  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

In  the  place  of  explaining  what  these  increases  signify,  I 
will  give  the  cost  under  which  identical  goods  were  landed 
before  the  new  tariff  went  into  force  and  what  they  cost 
now.  The  goods  are  imported  by  a  leading  house  in  the 
line  of  worsteds  and  Italian  cloths.  There  is  an  additional 
charge  on  the  goods  of  1  cent  per  running  yard  to  cover 
expenses,  and  10  per  cent  to  cover  discount  and  interest  to 
carry  stock.     Otherwise  net 

LANDING  COST  OF  THIRTY-TWO-INCH  ITALIANS 

WEIGHING   UNDEE   FOUE   OUNCES, 

"■pertt.^*    O'^Josf      Ad  valorem.    New  Tariff  ^.valorem. 

Cents.              Cents.           Per  cent.            Cent*.  Per  cent. 

1 12i      24J      103      27i  125 

2 17i      32f       87      87i  120 

OTHER  FOUR  OUNCES. 

3 15^  391  93  40|  163 

4 17i  32f  87  44i  158 

5 28^  52f  84  72  159 

6  34i  m\  93  82i  139 


824  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES, 

With  the  addition  of  the  importer's  profit,  these  goods 
stand  the  wholesale  clothier  or  dealer  at  the  closest : 

Foreign  Cost.  Old  Price.  Ad  Valorem.  New  Price.  Ad  Valorem. 

Cents.  Cents.  Per  cent.  Cents.  Per  cent. 

1 12i  37-  122  30i  150 

3 17i  36  108  43i  140 

3 15i  33  108  45  190 

4 17i  36  108  50  190 

5 38i  60  112  80  180 

6 34^  75  118  92  167 

The  lowest  quality  of  home-made  Italians  was  protected 
by  122  per  cent.,  and  none  of  these  qualities  could  be  sold 
at  less  than  108  per  cent,  above  the  price  at  which  any  cloth 
house  or  clothier  could  bay  these  goods  in  England.  Now 
the  consumer  has  to  pay  from  30  to  60  cents  for  an  article 
which  costs  in  England  from  12^  to  17^  cents  a  yard,  and 
in  character  of  goods,  color,  and  finish  is  superior  to  what 
has  ever  been  produced  in  this  country.  The  history  of  the 
manufacture  of  Italian  cloths  in  America  is  not  a  very 
bright  one.  Many  tried  the  manufacture,  none  succeeded 
in  giving  satisfactory  goods  to  the  trade.  One  mill  kept  up 
the  struggle  and  turned  out  fairly  good^loth,  but  even  their 
goods  were  always  sold  under  the  price  which  the  English 
goods  brought.  Italian  cloth  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
articles  to  manufacture.  The  English  take  the  finest  and 
best  Botany  wool  and  Egyptian  cotton  for  the  warp  yarn. 
Egyptian  cotton  has  advantages  barely  known  to  our  people, 
judging  from  the  limited  quantity  in  which  it  is  used.  For 
fine  yarn  goods  and  fine  warps  it  is  far  superior  to  Ameri- 
can, though  in  price  not  much  above  our  good  middling 
cotton.  It  makes  a  silky  thread  and  takes  the  dye  far  better 
than  American  cotton.  Hence  the  English  are  very  eager 
purchasers  of  it.  By  the  lowness  of  materials  and  intelli- 
gent selection  they  are  able  to  furnish  now  a  better  cloth  than 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  325 

ever  before,  at  prices  that  seem  hardly  credible  from  our 
standpoint.  We  are  so  debauched  in  our  ideas  of  wool  and 
■woolen  prices,  that  our  standard  of  measurement  has  come 
to  be  entirely  out  of  relation  with  that  of  the  rest  of  the 
world.  "We  force  the  people  to  either  pay  150  or  200  per 
cent,  above  the  foreign  price  of  so  useful  and  common  an 
article  as  Italian  cloth,  or  to  forego  its  use  and  use  cotton 
instead.  The  beneficiary  of  this  policy  is  at  present  one 
very  large  corporation  which  has  now  a  greater  margin  for 
profit  making  as  well  as  for  experimenting.* 

The  profits  which  these  corporations  reap  are  enormous, 
though  the  labor  is  not  paid  more  than  the  rates  usual  in 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode. Island  in  woolen  mills,  rates  lower 
than  in  almost  any  other  industrial  employment.  One  of 
these  corporations  in  its  own  report  showed  a  profit  of  over 
$900,000  on  a  capital  of  $2,000,000,  or  about  45  per  cent. 
The  treasurer,  of  this  corporation  is  the  originator  of  the 
woolen  and  worsted  clause  in  the  new  tariff,  and  has  for 
years  urged  the  tariff  increase  for  the  better  protection  of 
American  labor.  The  false  pretense  cannot  be  more  clearly 
shown  than  by  an  occasional  reference  to  the  proceedings 
before  the  Congressional  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  facts  as  revealed  from  the  mill  and 
the  counting-room  on  the  other  hand. 

Mohair  and  Other  Combed-Wool  Dress  Goods. 

The  same  tariff  clause  applies  to  dress  goods  with  cotton 
warp — casbmeres,  mohairs,  siciliennes,  alpacas,  etc.     Cash- 

*  The  Italian  cloths  made  here  were  deficient  in  the  finishing,  not  to 
speak  of  other  defects.  The  sizing  and  color  run  more  to  one  side,  gave 
lustre  unevenly  divided.  In  manufacturing  them  into  garments  they  had 
often  to  be  returned  after  being  cut  up,  as  the  shadings  in  the  parts  would 
injure  the  salability  of  the  finished  goods. 


326  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

meres,  except  in  all  wool,  prospered  well  enough  under  tlie 
old  tariff.  It  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  lustre  goods  would 
come  into  great  use  again  for  dress  goods,  but  this  proved 
deceptive.  As  linings  for  men's  wear  they  have  come  quite 
in  demand  of  late,  however,  which  fact  furnishes  an  expla- 
nation of  the  duty  increase. 

COMPARATIVE  STATEMENT  OF  COTTON  WARP,  LUSTRE 
DRESS  GOODS. -FOREIGN  COST  AND  IMPORTER'S  SELL- 
ING PRICE  UNDER  OLD  AND  NEW  DUTY. 

Mohair  Beiluantine. 


English 

Old  Ameri- 

Above 

New 

Above 

Cost. 

can  Price. 

English. 

Price. 

English. 

In. 

Cents. 

Cmts. 

Pe?-  cent. 

Cents. 

Per  cent. 

37 

13 

27 

108 

82i 

150 

27 

15 

80i 

103 

36 

140 

38 

17 

86 

112 

43 

154 

38 

19i 

40 

108 

48 

150 

HAIB 

,  SiCILIENNE  (OVEE  4  OUNCES)  LAEGELY  USED 

FOE  LlND 

27 

IH 

25 

118 

84 

195 

, , 

19 

40 

110 

48. 

153 

42 

22^ 

47 

108 

62 

180 

29^ 

62 

110 

73 

148 

4(H 

80 

98 

97 

140 

Whatever  is  produced  in  this  class  of  combed-wool  dress 
goods,  linings,  etc.,  is  made  by  a  few  powerful  corpora- 
tions. Their  manufacture  is  so  risky,  and  requires  so 
great  an  outlay  for  machinery,  principally  combing  ma- 
chinery, tbat  the  makers  of  carded-wool  dress  goods — and 
they  are  the  mass  of  our  manufacturers — could  not,  even  if 
they  would,  take  up  these  lines.  Hence  these  few  concerns 
have  everything  their  own  way.  It  is  they  who  managed 
and  carried  the  increase  of  duty  in  these  branches.  It  is 
they  alone  who  reap  the  benefits  under  the  tariff,  limited  only 
by  their  ability  of  turning  out  goods   satisfactory  to  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  327 

trade.     In  this,  however,  they  have  rarely  succeeded,  except 
in  the  lower  numbers. 

But  it  is  always  the  few  great  capital  concerns  who  reap, 
while  the  many  hundreds  of  smaller  manufacturers  are  ex- 
cluded from  the  benefits.  They  have  to  plot  and  to  grind 
at  the  wheel,  or  are  ground  under  the  wheel,  and  the  people 
have  to  pay  these  tremendous  taxes  on  dress  goods,  linings, 
and  necessaries  of  life.  I  hope  nobody  will  dispute  their 
being  necessaries  of  life. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Carded- wool  Goods. — Labor  not  Higher  than  in  England, —Flannels  and 
other  Fabrics  would  be  Exportable  but  for  the  Wool  Tariff. 

In  carded-wool  goods  American  manufacturers  are  in 
much  safer  position.  The  nap  of  the  cloth  covers  up  a  great 
deal  which  in  worsteds  and  combed  goods  is  pro vo kingly 
forward  in  making  a  display  of  itself.  Still,  they  do  very 
well  in  flannels,  sackings,  and  cloths,  so  long  as  they  stick 
to  the  genuine  wool  and  keep  to  the  standard  both  in  wool 
and  in  the  goods,  a  thing  not  always  practiced  in  woolen 
manufacturing. 

Whatever  foreign  importations  are  brought  over  are 
brought  on  account  of  the  superior  character,  and  indepen- 
dently of  the  American  substitute  as  to  price.  This  has 
been  so  under  the  old  tariff,  and  will  remain  so  until  we 
learn  to  build  upward  instead  of  downward,  which  again 
cannot  be  done  unless  we  have  the  wools  necessary  for  the 
desired  effects.  The  class  of  goods  of  which  we  treat  now 
under  the  old  tariff  would  have  paid  24  cents  a  pound  and 
85  per  cent,  an  ad  valorem  equivalent  of  68  per  cent.  Un- 
der the  new  tariff  they  pay  like  all-wool  dress  goods,  Ital- 
ians, etc.,  made  of  combed  wool,  44  cents  a  pound  and  50 
per  cent.,  an  ad  valorem  equivalent  of  110  per  cent.  None 
of  this  class  needed  extra  protection,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
sequel.  None  of  this  class  could  be  imported  or  were  im- 
ported under  the  old  duty,  except  fancy  fabrics  of  better 
styles  and  superior  workmanship,  and  better  selection  of 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  329 

wools.  Thej  do  not  militate  against  our  own  goods.  On 
tbe  contrary,  these  importations  are  the  only  healthful  stim- 
ulation which  our  manufacturers  receive  and  of  which  they 
are  certainly  very  much  in  need. 

Dress  Goods. 

In  dress  goods  a  change  has  taken  place  in  favor  of  the 
softer  goods,  the  same  as  in  men's  wear,  against  cashmeres 
(made  of  combed  wool)  which  had  a  run  for  quite  a  num- 
ber of  years.  The  trouble  in  dress  goods  is  that  one  can 
seldom  say  from  one  season  to  another  what  class  of  goods 
will  be  in  demand.  Hence,  the  domestic  manufacturer  with 
his  limited  market  is  always  tossed  about  between  the  rocks 
of  over-production  and  of  inability  to  supply  the  goods  just 
in  demand.  In  this  the  foreign  manufacturer  has  an  advan- 
tage. He  originates  fashions  and  designs  for  America  as 
well  as  for  the  rest  of  the  world.  He  can  turn  his  looms 
with  ease  and  more  readily  than  our  manufacturers,  partly 
because  he  works  on  a  smaller  and  more  scattered  basis  (in 
Germany  *  and  France  a  very  large  number  of  hand-looms 
are  still  in  operation)  than  our  big  concerns,  and  partly  be- 
cause he  has  the  world's  nations  as  his  customers,  and  is, 
therefore,  not  engaged  with  his  entire  force  on  one  and  the 
same  class  or  style  of  goods. 

Importations  will  for  these  reasons  always  go  on,  whether 
we  continue  advancing  the  tariff  or  not,  and  the  bulk  will 
continue  to  be  made  here  after  increase  or  reduction  of 
tariffs.  Whether  with  a  profit  or  without,  depends  entirely 
on  whether  manufacturers  happen  to  hit  the  things  in  de- 
mand or  not.  That  the  labor  cost  plays  no  great  part  in 
this  can  be  seen  from  a  statement  of  comparative  cost  re- 
*  See  page  157. 


830  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

lating  to  dress  goods  of  carded  wool,  so-called  sackings. 
These  goods  are  very  extensively  manufactured,  and  at 
present  are  in  good  demand.  They  are  of  the  flannel  kind, 
and  what  applies  to  these  in  the  manufacturing  and  cost 
is  applicable  to  sackings,  too,  as  also  to  stripes  or  plaids. 
The  principal  difference  is  that  sackings  are  dyed  in  the 
wool  or  in  the  piece,  plaids  in  the  yarn.  But  even  this  is  an 
infinitesimal  quantity  in  cost,  as  will  be  seen  farther  on. 
The  shuttle,  of  course,  carries  with  equal  speed  and  equal 
good-will,  whether  freighted  with  yarns  of  one  color  or  of 
many  colors  or  yarn  in  the  gray. 

The  goods  in  America  are  made  from  the  wool  up,  carded, 
spun,  woven,  dyed,  and  finished  in  the  mill.  The  English 
goods,  to  which  the  comparison  relates,  are  made  complete 
in  the  mill  except  the  dyeing  and  finishing,  which  is  done  by 
outside  parties.     I  found  the  relation  to  stand  thus  : 

Comparison  of  cost  (in  cents)  of  6-4  sackings,  6f  ounces 
to  the  yard,  calculated  on  the  pound  basis  in 

KASSACHCSBTTS.  ENGLAND. 

Sup-  Sup- 
Labor,    plies.   Total.  Labor,  plies.  Total. 
Scouring,  carding,  and  spinning. . .     4.8      1.1      5.9  4       1.5  5.5 
Weaving,  beaming,  burling,  etc. . .     9.63      .85  10.47  7.4     ...  7.4 

Dyeing 8      1.1       1.9         8 

Fulling  and  finishing 2.6       ....     2.6         4 

Charges,  etc.* 11.4        13 

•62.27  37.9 

Wool 70  32 

Total $1.02.27  69,9 

The  general  cost  outside  of  the  wool  was  stated  by  the 

*  The  charges  for  the  American  goods  cover  the  following  items  :  Wool 
expense,  $836  ;  general  expense,  $10,106  ;  rent,  $3,884  ;  insurance, 
$352  ;  taxes,  $1,009 ;  interest,  $3,461  ;  and  cover  half  a  year,  with  a 
product  of  163,614  pounds  of  woven  goods. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAQE8.  381 

manufacturer  as  being  covered  by  33  cents  a  pound.  In 
England  the  dyeing  and  finishing  is  higher,  being  done  out- 
side. The  American  dyeing  cost  has  to  be  corrected,  being 
higher  than  given  in  my  report  on  these  dress  goods.  I  inti- 
mated then,  that  some  corrections  might  be  necessary.  The 
American  goods  are  dyed  in  the  wool.  The  mill  manufac- 
tures, besides  the  all-wool  goods,  a  considerable  quantity  of 
cotton  mixed  goods,  and  has  the  cotton  dyed  outside  before 
it  is  carded  in  with  the  wool.  This  item  of  cost  has  to  be 
added.  An  additional  sum  of  1.9  cents  would  amply  cover 
this,  as  by  the  account  of  the  mill  rendered  to  me  subse- 
quently. 

Goods  of  the  same  weight  dyed  in  the  piece,  in  all  colors 
except  navy  blue  and  myrtle  green,  cost  4.6  cents  the  pound 
by  the  account  of  the  mills  to  the  commission  merchant, 
who  is  the  selling  agent  for  the  goods  in  question. 

Allowing  for  this  difference,  there  is  still  sufficient  margin 
in  the  general  cost  to  make  American  flannels  and  carded- 
wool  dress  goods  independent  of  foreign  competition  were 
there  no  tariff  whatever.  The  American  weaver  gets  2.65 
cents  per  yard  of  these  goods,  turns  out  about  300  yards  per 
week,  and  earns,  accordingly,  $7.95.  The  English  weaver 
gets  (75.  8c?.  per  piece  of  72  yards)  2.56  cents  per  yard,  turns 
out  105  yards  on  an  average,  and  earns  $2.71.  Both  are 
paid  by  the  piece  at  nearly  the  same  rate.  The  American 
operator  handles  two  looms,  works  harder  and  longer  hours. 
The  Yorkshire  girls  handle  one  loom  and  are  satisfied  with, 
earning  12s.  a  week.  "  Higher  than  15s.  their  ambition 
seldom  goes,"  a  manufacturer  told  me.  This  is  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,  the  question  and  the  answer,  in  the  problem 
of  to-day.  This  class  of  goods  needs  nothing  so  much  as 
free  wool  to  make  it  exportable.  Manufacturers  know  this 
very  well,  and  have  been  very  outspoken  at  times  about  il 


332  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

How  could  it  be  otherwise?  The  general  cost  of  pro- 
duction aside  from  the  wool  is  somewhat  below  foreign 
cost,  but  the  wool  costs  more  than  twice  as  much  as 
abroad. 

It  was  pointed  out  at  the  time  by  the  editor  of  the  Boston 
Journal  of  Commerce  that  I  had  allowed  20  per  cent,  for 
shrinkage  in  the  manufacture  of  the  clean  wool  in  the  Eng- 
lish cost  and  not  in  the  American  cost.  My  aim  at  that 
time  was  more  to  get  at  the  manufacturing  differences  than  at 
precise  wool  cost,  which,  as  I  stated  then  in  mj  report,  could 
be  corrected.  With  the  20  per  cent,  added,  the  relative  wool 
cost  would  have  stood  as  84  American  against  32  cents  Eng- 
lish cost.  Hence,  the  smaller  price  seemed  the  safer  to  accept 
in  consideration  of  the  selling  price  of  the  goods.  As  to  the 
objections  raised  against  the  price  of  the  English  wool,  I 
bave  answered  them  on  page  303.  The  statement  made 
there,  in  reference  to  the  wool  question  in  general,  found 
emphatic  support  from  an  American  manufacturer  and  com- 
mission merchant.     He  writes  to  me  on  the  subject: 

"English  goods  are  invariably  made  out  of  a  blend,  and  in  this  blend 
there  are  all  the  way  from  five  to  twenty  different  qualities  of  wool,  each 
of  which  is  associated  with  it  to  give  some  desirable  quality  to  the  goods, 
either  of  texture,  finish,  or  price.  ...  I  am  obliged  nearly  every  week  to 
refuse  profitable  contracts  to  make  goods  which  would  occupy  consider- 
able quantities  of  American  machinery,  simply  because  the  raw  stock  and 
the  experience  of  handling  the  same  do  not  exist  in  this  country.  The 
importation  of  the  former  is  prohibited  by  the  tariff  and  the  tariff,  is  like- 
wise responsible  for  our  inexperience  in  handling  certain  raw  stocks,  which 
have  been  excluded  from  this  market  for  upward  of  twenty-five  years." 

Here  we  have  the  whole  difficulty.  We  have  not  the 
experience  in  handling  raw  stocks,  nor  have  we  the  stocks 
of  wool  required  for  the  blending,  because  they  have  been 
excluded  from  the  market  for  upward  of  twenty-five  years. 
Otherwise  we  could  employ  our  cheap  labor  and  working 


.THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  SBS 

methods  very  profitably  on  orders  now  going  constantly  to 
foreign  countries.  It  needs  no  emphasizing  that  this  gen- 
tleman asks  for  no  other  favors  than  free  wool. 

Answering  by  "If." 

That  the  statement  of  the  hard  fact  that  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, irrespective  of  wool,  is  not  higher  in  America  in 
the  labor,  and  in  the  total  even  lower,  than  in  England, 
should  be  assailed,  and  its  refutation  attempted  by  those 
who  were  for  years  scrambling  for  higher  duties  on  woolens, 
was  to  be  foreseen.  Hence  it  can  be  well  understood  that  I 
took  especial  care  to  satisfy  myself  of  the  correctness  of  my 
information.  This  explains  why  I  acquaint  the  reader  with 
the  manner  of  the  investigation.  As  in  our  fight  for  open 
markets  and  lighter  burdens  so  much  depends  on  the  facts, 
it  is  certainly  necessary  that  facts  like  the  above,  upon  which 
the  case  is  rested,  should  be  unassailably  correct  and  be 
safely  depended  upon  as  absolutely  correct,  and,  therefore,  if 
they  are  challenged  by  what  appears  competent  authority,  it 
also  follows  that  the  challenge  should  be  answered. 

The  report  on  this  subject  found  wide  discussion  at  the 
time.  The  leading  papers  commented  on  the  evident  lessons. 
Some  one  had  to  reply  so  as  to  save  the  theory  that  pro- 
tective duties  were  required  on  account  of  the  wages,  and 
the  treasurer  of  the  Farr  Alpaca  Company  was  good  enough 
to  assume  this  duty  of  chivalry.  The  head  of  so  large 
a  corporation  principally  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
"  dress  goods "  would  certainly  be  the  fittest  person  to 
silence  all  who  accepted,  and  possibly  in  argument  made 
use  of  the  statistical  facts  and  comparisons.  And  so  he  did, 
judging  from  the  quiet  that  reigned  ever  after.  It  escaped 
notice,  however: 


334  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

First,  that  the  Farr  Alpaca  Company,  as  the  name,  even, 
would  indicate,  makes  goods  of  combed  wool  only,  such  as 
cashmeres,  Italian  cloths,  and  mohair  and  alpaca  goods,  and 
that  I  had  distinctly  stated  that  "  they  are  made  of  carded 
wool,  and  are  of  plain  flannel  weave.  They  represent, 
therefore,  manufacturing  flannels  as  well  as  sackings  or 
ladies'  cloth."  The  two  kinds  of  goods  are  so  essentially 
different,  and  are  manufactured  on  such  different  bases,  that 
it  would  show  either  great  ignorance  or  great  disingenuous- 
ness  to  substitute  one  for  the  other. 

Second,  it  escaped  notice  that  the  treasurer  of  the  Alpaca 
Company  offered  no  data  from  his  own  mill.  He  pro- 
ceeded by  ifs  and  innuendoes  and  by  statements  obtained 
from  dyeing  establishments  in  Philadelphia.  In  regard  to 
the  yarn,  he  says  that,  if  the  wool  price  were  as  low  in 
England  as  stated  against  the  price  here,  the  yarns  could  be 
imported,  and,  with  the  manufacturing  and  dyeing  done  as 
cheaply  as  appears  from  the  mill  account,  "they  [the 
American  manufacturers]  would  not  only  monopolize  the 
home  market,  but  be  able  to  export  under  the  tariff  clause, 
for  a  drawback  of  duty  on  goods  exported  when  wholly 
manufactured  of  material  imported."  Precisely.  But  who 
has  ever  heard  of  flannel  yarns  or  carded  wool  yarns  as  an 
article  of  export  in  England?  Our  flannel  mills  make  their 
own  yarns,  the  same  as  in  England.  For  combing  yarns  the 
short  wools  in  the  English  goods  are  entirely  unsuitable,  as 
the  gentleman  undoubtedly  knows.  But  combed  yarns  were 
always  imported  in  large  quantities  until  the  new  tariff,  as 
the  gentleman  must  likewise  know,  gave  a  monopoly  to 
the  American  spinners  and  to  the  Farr  Alpaca  Company 
and  a  few  other  large  corporations,  the  Arlington  Mills,  etc. 
They  undoubtedly  know  the  reasons  why  the  tariff  on  yarns 
was  put  up  so  high,  as  they  were  the  parties  who  prepared 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  335 

the  tariff  clauses  relating  to  these  points  so  profitable  to 
them  and  so  disadvantageous  to  all  other  branches. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  to  get  a  detailed  statement 
of  the  cost  of  the  company's  goods ;  but  upon  this  subject 
the  treasurer  is  eloquently  silent.  Upon  the  cost  of  flannels 
or  sackings  he  is  hardly  a  competent  person  to  speak.  Yet 
he  creates  the  impression  that  he  is  treating  identical  goods. 
Not  a  very  creditable  method,  to  controvert  by  substitution 
of  different  articles  and  by  befogging  the  people.  That  he 
had  cashmeres  in  view,  and  not  sackings,  when  he  spoke  of 
"  all-wool  dress  goods  dyed  black  "  is  seen  from  the  weight 
of  the  goods,  for  which  he  obtained  the  price  from  "  a  job 
dyer  in  Philadelphia."  *  They  are  35  inches  wide,  six  yards 
to  the  pound,  or  two  and  two-thirds  ounces  to  the  square 
yard — about  one-third  the  weight  of  sackings  or  ladies' 
cloth,  which  are  about  two  yards  to  the  pound.  Cashmeres 
are  certainly  a  more  expensive  article  to  dye  on  the  pound 
basis  than  flannels  or  sackings.  One  may  send  them  to  dye- 
houses,  and  importers  and  others  frequently  do  so,  but 
manufacturers  of  flannels  and  sackings  are  certainly  not  in 
this  habit.  The  job  dyers  make  a  good  profit  out  of  their 
advantage  on  the  cashmeres,  which  the  manufacturers  of 
flannels  and  sackings  find  it  useful  to  keep  for  their  own 
benefit. 

The  job  dyers  pay  freight,  general  charges,  and  a  number 
of  expenses  which  the  manufacturers  either  do  not  figure  or 
classify  with  the  total  general  expense.  The  job  dyer  also 
expects  to  make  a  profit,  and  I  am  informed  by  a  manufact- 
urer who  occasionally  sends  goods  to  job  dyers  that  these 
items  amount  to  about  40  per  cent  of  the  total  price  asked 
by  the  job  dyer.     Accordingly  what  would  stand  on  the 

*  The  Farr  Alpaca  Company's  mills  are  in  Holyoke,  Massachusetts. 


38 G  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HTQH  WAGES. 

books  of  a  mill  djeing  its  own  goods  as  6  cents,  would  be 
charged  as  10  cents  by  the  job  dyer. 

The  dyeing  charge  of  this  Philadelphia  job  dyer  is  stated 
to  be  16^  cents  a  pound,  but  with  six  yards  to  the  pound. 
Hence,  the  treasurer  of  the  Farr  Alpaca  Company  insists 
that  the  dyeing  of  sackings  ought  to  be  charged  at  the 
same  rate,  and  other  things  in  proportion. 

The  cost  of  labor  in  dyeing  depends  largely  on  the  quan- 
tities put  into  one  dyeing.  A  job  djer  doing  work  for  all 
comers  and  in  varieties  of  goods  cannot  do  the  dyeing  on  the 
plan  on  which  a  mill  does  its  own  dyeing,  where  one  class 
of  goods  is  dyed  one  color  at  a  time,  let  us  say  for  a  day, 
without  a  change  of  vats.  How  cheaply  the  dyeing  is  done 
by  large  quantity  dyeing,  is  proved  by  other  accounts  col- 
lected by  me  at  the  same  time.  A  mill  in  Massachusetts  mak- 
ing heavy  6-4  indigo  blue  sackings  for  men's  wear,  weighing 
from  10  to  18  ounces  a  yard,  gave  me  6,500  to  7,000  pounds 
of  wool  dyeing  as  a  day's  work.  They  employ  from  45  to  60 
men  at  $1.15  a  day  in  the  dyeing.  Including  the  foreman 
they  get  $60  a  day  in  wages.  This  is  six-sevenths  of  a  cent 
in  labor  per  pound.  But  the  same  hands  do  the  scouring  of 
the  wool  likewise.  As  the  accounts  of  the  two  operations 
are  not  separable,  we  have  to  take  the  labor  cost  of  scour- 
ing from  a  mill  in  Rhode  Island,  where  wages  are  on  a  not 
very  much  higher  level.  This  is  three-eighths  of  a  cent, 
and  leaves  .47^  cent,  about  half  a  cent,  for  the  dyeing 
labor.  Now,  I  hear  it  said  that  wool  dyeing  may  involve 
less  handling  than  yarn  dj^eing  or  cloth  dyeing.  Well, 
I  have  here  an  account  for  yarns  from  a  Philadelphia 
dye-bouse,  who  pay  much  higher  wages  than  are  paid 
either  in  Massachusetts  or  Ehode  Island.  A  week's  work 
is  about  35,000  pounds  of  yarn.  For  this  work  are  em- 
ployed : 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  337 

Five  sets  of  kettlemen  at  |12  a  week $120 

One  set  of  kettlemen  at  $13  a  week 26 

Two  polers  at  $10  a  week 20 

One  carrier  up  at  $10  a  week 10 

One  whizzer  tender  at  $13  a  week 13 

Three  scourers  at  $13  a  week 39 

One  fireman  at  $14  a  week 14 

One  driver  at  $12  a  week 12 

With  a  total  pay  roll  of $254 

or  0.725  a  pound,  barely  three-quarters  of  a  cent.  These 
men  get  fully  100  per  cent,  higher  wages  than  is  paid  in 
Yorkshire,  but  we  can  safely  challenge  dyeing  being  done 
there  as  cheaply  as  .362c?.  a  pound. 

Of  wool  dyeing  in  the  piece  I  have  said  enough  under 
worsteds.  I  am  informed  that,  with  the  new  kettles  and 
appliances  now  in  use,  from  six  to  twelve  pieces  are  dyed  in 
a  kettle  where  formerly  only  two  were  put.  All  that  is  re- 
quired is  a  good  quantity  of  the  same  goods  and  dye  to 
make  the  cost  of  labor  a  matter  of  small  consequence  in- 
deed. This  is  here  as  in  all  other  manufacturing  branches, 
and  wherein  America  distinguishes  itself. 

The  Proof  is  in  the  Selling  Price. 

But  we  have  most  complete  proof  of  the  statement  in 
the  selling  price  of  the  goods.  Six-quarter  width  sackings, 
weighing  eight  ounces,  were  sold  in  1886  at  QQ^  cents,  and 
in  1887  (the  time  at  which  the  mill  statement  was  taken) 
sold  as  low  even  as  Qb  cents,  less  5  and  2|-  per  cent.,  or 
60.21  cents,  regular  terms ;  i.  e.,  7  per  cent,  cash  discount 
They  netted  the  manufacturer,  deducting  7|-  per  cent,  com- 
mission, interest  for  carrying  goods,  etc.,  57.21  cents  and 
51.80  cents,  respectively. 

The  6-4  sackings,  weighing  Q.Q  ounces,  the  goods  in  ref- 
22 


338  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

erence,  were  55  and  50  cents  at  different  times,  and  netted 
47.41  cents  and  43  cents  respectively.  Extending  the  yard 
price  to  the  pound  weight,  the  mill  realizes  for  8  ounce 
goods,  $1.14^  and  $1.03|,  and  6.6-ounce  weight,  $1.15  and 
$1.04|^.  (In  scarlet  flannels  the  same  price  relations  could  be 
shown  to  exist.)  In  these  sackings  11^  cents  marks  the 
difference  between  cost  and  selling  price  of  the  heavier,  and 
12  cents  of  the  lighter  weights,  at  the  higher  prices  realized. 
Under  the  price  declines  resulting  from  the  different  phases 
of  trade,  this  profit  frequently  disappears,  almost  entirely. 
Certainly  not  an  excessive  average  rate,  under  nearly  uni- 
form wool  prices  (1886  and  1887).  How  these  manufac- 
turers would  fare  if  they  sent  their  goods  to  job  dyers  in 
Philadelphia  is  needless  to  say.  They  could  neither  afford 
to  have  their  dyeing  cost  exceed  4  cents  a  pound  (inclusive 
of  dyestuffs,  etc.)  nor  the  wool  to  exceed  the  price  of  70 
cents  in  the  pound  of  finished  clotL  Wool  at  35  cents, 
shrinkage  in  scouring  at  50  per  cent,  and  an  additional 
shrinkage  in  manufacturing  of  20  per  cent,  and  a  total  wool 
cost  of  70  cents  was  due  to  the  fact,  as  ascertained  later, 
that  a  certain  percentage  of  noils  (costing  45  cents  then) 
was  mixed  with  the  wool.  The  correctness  of  these  accounts 
is  abundantly  proven  by  the  fact  that  nothing  could  be  put 
against  their  correctness  except  the  above — shall  we  say, 
absurd — attempt  at  controversion. 

All- Wool  Kersey  Cloth. 

I  found  the  same  relations  to  exist  in  heavier  woolens.  I 
did  not  select  fancy  articles  subject  to  fashion  prices  and 
demands,  but  plain  staples.  Here  I  subjected  to  compari- 
son a  plain,  army-blue  kersey  cloth.  It  is  used  in  America 
and  England  for  the  army,  and  here,  as  well  as  there,  sub- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  339 

mitted  to  bidders  for  army  contracts,  hence  usually  worked 
on  a  close  margin. 

The  cost  of  labor  in  scouring,  carding,  spinning,  dyeing, 
finishing,  and  other  expense  in  America,  I  found  to  be 
11.54  cents,  and  in  England  to  be  9.376  cents,  a  difference 
of  only  2  cents  in  favor  of  England.  But  in  the  weaving 
part,  including  warping,  etc.,  the  difference  is  greater — 10.46 
cents  in  America  and  6|  cents  in  England;  altogether  a  dif- 
ference of  7  cents  a  yard.  The  difference  in  the  weaving 
between  the  dress-goods'  account  given  above  and  the  differ- 
ent cloths  mentioned  here  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the 
heavier  goods  only  one  loom  is  managed  by  an  operator. 
But  while  the  English  weaver  girl  turns  out  in  this  class  of 
cloth  65  yards  per  week  on  her  loom,  the  American  aver- 
ages 100  yards.  Hence  the  earnings  of  the  latter  are  con- 
siderably in  excess  of  what  the  difference  in  the  piece-price 
of  weaving  would  indicate.  The  difference  of  7  cents  in 
the  total  of  labor  cost  is,  however,  reduced  3.43  cents  by 
the  lower  general  cost  in  manufacturing,  which  is  14.2  for 
America  and  17.63  for  England.  It  must  always  be  remem- 
bered that  difference  of  manufacturing  methods  implies  dif- 
ferences in  bookkeeping  and  accounting.  Labor  items  are 
contained  in  the  English  general  expense  accounts,  which 
in  American  accounts  appear  directly  as  labor  expense. 
Carding,  spinning,  and  dyeing  accounts  contain  items  of 
charges  and  profits,  which  in  America  are  charged  on  the 
general  output.  Hence,  the  total  cost  difference  outside  of 
the  wool  price  in  a  six-quarter  indigo-dyed  kersey  cloth 
(all-wool)  is  the  difference  between  36.2  cents,  the  Ameri- 
can cost,  and  31.25  cents,  the  English  cost,  equal  to  5  cents. 

The  goods  consume  28  ounces  of  scoured  wool,  and  weigh 
when  finished  22  ounces.  The  wool  costs  24  to  25  cents  in 
the  grease,  and  loses  about  50  per  cent,  in   the  scouring, 


340  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

which  makes  the  wool  cost  in  the  yard  of  cloth  come  to  84 
cents.  But  the  English  cost  is  only  52  cents,  which  makes 
82  cents  more  cost  in  the  wool  alone,  against  only  5  cents 
difference  in  the  labor.  The  charge  for  weaving  was  taken 
rather  high  compared  with  similar  goods  made  elsewhere, 
or  the  approximation  would  have  been  still  closer  to  the 
English  cost. 

6-4  Cheviots. 

The  mill  which  made  the  above  goods  manufactured  6-4 
cheviots  very  largely.  These  were  only  35  per  cent,  wool 
and  65  per  cent,  shoddy  in  the  warp  and  in  the  weft.  The 
manufacturer  said  that  they  were  driven  to  this  by  the  high 
price  of  wool,  and  that  the}'  would  be  glad  to  use  pure  wool 
as  being  easier  and  cheaper  to  manufacture.  On  account  of 
the  mixed  character  of  the  material  and  the  difficulty  of 
fixing  upon  the  same  component  parts  in  the  fabrics  of  the 
two  countries,  I  leave  out  the  comparison  of  the  cost  of 
materials,  and  only  state  the  manufacturing  items  of  cost. 

They  compare  as  follows  : 

America.  England  (Dewsbury). 

Sundries.  Sundries. 

Labor.    Expense.  Total.        Labor.    Expeiue.     Total. 

1.  Preparing,       carding, 

spinning 3.97  1.34  5.31  4.00  3.40  7.4 

2.  Warping 0.96  ..  .96  0.75  1.25  2.0 

Weaving 7.00  ..  7.00  4.40  ..  4.4 

Additional 1.50  . .  1.50  0.60  . .  0.6 

3.  Dyeing,  finisliing,  etc.  4.64  11.01  15.65  3.00  12.60  15.6 

Total 18.07      12.35      30.42      12.75      17.25      30.0 

We  have  here  the  same  total  cost  in  both  countries  for 
labor,  sundries,  and  expense  and  charges  incidental  to  get- 
ting the  goods  ready  to  the  mill's  door.     The  weaving  wages 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  34I 

are  only  2.6  cents  higher.  In  the  finishing,  dyeing,  and 
additionals  in  American  labor  account,  items  are  contained 
which  in  the  English  account  are  classed  in  the  column  for 
sundries  and  expenses.  Closely  analyzed,  the  American 
labor  would  not  stand  more  than  3  to  3^  cents  above  the 
English  cost  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  give  an  account  of 
every  detail.  In  the  dyeing  and  finishing  account  for 
America  the  scouring  expense  of  wool  is  included,  which  in 
the  English  part  is  contained  in  the  spinning  items.  With 
these  explanations,  the  statement  here  presented  will  be  pre- 
cise enough  to  convey  to  the  general  reader  the  substantial 
basis  upon  which  these  comparisons  of  manufacturing  cost 
rest. 

That  these  statements  of  labor  cost  in  America  are  rather 
over  the  general  average  than  below  can  be  seen  from  the 
weaving  wages  paid  for  6-4  twilled  sackings  for  men's  wear  in 
a  large  mill  in  Massachusetts.  These  goods  are  somewhat 
finer,  hence  have  a  greater  number  of  picks  to  the  inch.  The 
girls  are  paid  at  the  rate  of  6^  cents  per  yard,  and,  averaging 
about  twenty  yards  a  day,  earn  $1.25,  against  7  cents  paid 
for  coarser  goods  in  the  mill  quoted  above.  The  help  is 
more  expert,  too,  in  the  Massachusetts  mill  than  in  the 
cheviot  mill,  which  is  situated  in  an  isolated  position  in  the 
country.  The  average  output  in  the  latter  is  given  as  116 
yards  a  week,  in  the  Massachusetts  mill  as  120  yards,  but  in 
England  as  only  80  yards  in  a  somewhat  coarser  fabric  than 
the  quality  under  discussion.  Wherever  our  examinations 
turn,  we  find  that  differences  of  cost  in  labor  and  in  the 
other  general  manufacturing  items  are  either  entirely  absent, 
or  at  the  most  so  trivial  that  they  hardly  deserve  notice, 
especially  when  held  against  the  wild  assertions  dealt  out 
so  freely  by  protectionists  and  "authorities,"  of  which  the 
party  quoted  is  a  very  fair  sample. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

Strange  Bedfellowship  made  by  the  Tariff. — Doubling  the  Rates  by 
Classification. — Plushes,  Pile  Fabrics,  Knit  Goods  classed  with 
Clothing, — Carpets. — Lower  Cost  of  Labor  than  in  England. — Great 
Trade  Depressions  at  Home. — High  Wool  clogs  the  Market. 

These  goods  have  been  taken  out  of  the  company  with 
which  thej  were  associated  under  the  old  tariff  and  thrown 
in  with  ready-made  clothing.  A  strange  friendship.  Not 
that  the  duty  was  not,  considering  the  low  foreign  price,  a 
very  high  one  heretofore,  but  that,  clothing  paying  the  high- 
est rates  in  the  woolen  schedule,  the  division  of  clothing  was 
considered  best  fitted  to  serve  as  an  infirmary  for  the  infants 
in  the  tariff  asylum,  even  the  small  supply  of  fresh  air  let 
in  here  and  there  in  the  general  wards  seeming  to  the  ten- 
der-hearted tariff  doctors  too  strong  and  dangerous.  Some 
goods  of  this  class  are  made  with  a  cotton  back  and  a  face  or 
pile  of  wool,  mohair,  and,  in  the  cheap  fabrics  coming  under 
this  clause,  of  cow's,  goat's,  and  other  similar  hair.  Under 
this  heading  come  carriage  robes  and  lap  robes,  travelling 
rugs,  plushes  made  of  wool  and  mohair  as  well  as  of  cow's 
hair.  Imitation  astrakhan  and  similar  fabrics  are  likewise 
assigned  to  this  class  of  goods.  They  have  of  late  become 
very  favored  in  the  eyes  of  our  sisters  for  outer  coverings 
and  for  trimmings. 

But  no  sooner  did  this  become  apparent  to  some  manu- 
facturers than  they  laid  claim  to  the  industry  and  lodged 
their  modest  demands  with  Mr.  McKinley,  who  submissively 
did  as  he  was  bidden  to  do.     And  no  sooner  was  the  prize 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  343 

carried  home  than  mills  set  to  work  to  manufacture  astra- 
khans. The  term  "  pile  fabric  "  was  not  meant,  perhaps, 
to  cover  this  class  of  goods,  but  it  at  all  events  was  a 
good  enough  Morgan  to  do  the  desired  servica  Here  was 
an  article  coming  into  fashion,  the  protection  of  which 
was  suddenly  raised  from  100  per  cent,  to  something  like 
200  per  cent.  What  an  opportunity  did  this  offer  for 
enriching  ourselves,  establishing  an  infant  industry,  and 
preventing  the  money  from  going  abroad  !  Some  hundreds  of 
pieces  were  made  by  two  of  the  most  capable  manufacturers 
in  the  country.  But  the  goods  had  to  be  sold  under  the 
cost  of  production  ;  the  trade  had  declared  them  unmerchant- 
able fabrics.  They  were  failures,  with  a  carpet-like  back, 
and  a  face  of  a  hairy-woolly  appearance,  instead  of  being  a 
supple,  pliable  fabric  with  a  crisp,  curly  face,  as  the  im- 
ported article  undeniably  is. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  get  the  duty  raised  to  almost  any 
height,  but  no  amount  of  duty  suffices  to  supply  the  quali- 
ties necessary  for  turning  out  goods  satisfactory  to  the  buyer, 
who  is  the  ultimate  arbiter,  and  determines  the  value  of  a 
fabric  regardless  of  the  cost  of  production  or  of  the  suffering 
of  incompetent  infants.  He  is  a  cold-blooded,  selfish  crea- 
ture, without  enthusiasm,  and  guided  only  by  his  senses  and 
his  sense.  But  if  he  wants  proper  goods  he  has  to  pay 
duties  of  four  and  a  half  times  the  duty  on  a  pound  of 
unwashed  wool,  or  49  cents  (in  some  of  these  fabrics  there  is 
no  wool  at  all ;  in  most  of  those  containing  wool,  not  a  third 
of  a  pound  of  clean  wool  to  the  pound  of  finished  cloth)  and 
60  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Some  of  these  duties,  chiefly  in  the  lower  grades,  are 
beyond  any  thing  in  the  experience  of  our  people  even 
under  the  present  tariff,  which  is  saying  a  good  deal. 

Under  the  old  duty  most  of  them,  as  valued  under  30 


344  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

cents  a  pound,  paid  10  cents  per  pound  and  35  per  cent  ad 
valorem.     These  paj  now  as  follows : 

First. — A  seal  plush  made  of  cow's  hair,  but  a  very  sightly  fabric  for 
cloakings  and  trimmings,  largely  used  in  England  for  jackets  of  work- 
ing girls,  49  inches  wide,  25  ounces  in  weight,  costs  there  1«,  5d.  per 
yard  less  6i  per  cent,  discount,  or  31.79  cents  net.  This  paid  a  weight 
duty  of  15.7  cents  and  an  ad  valorem  duty  of  11.12  cents,  or  26.82  cents 
—equal  to  84^  per  cent.     This  article  pays  now  : 

Weight  duty 78  cents. 

Ad  valorem  duty 19  cents. 

Total 97  cents. 

equal  to  305  per  cent. 

Second. — An  English  article  called  "Polaris,"  and  in  the  nature  of 
astrakhans,  costs  44.88  cents  net,  and  weighs  28  ounces,  which  is  25.65  net 
the  pound.  These  goods  paid  formerly  weight  duty  of  17.50  cents  and 
an  ad  valorem  duty  of  15.90  cents,  a  total  duty  of  33.40  cents,  equal  to 
75  per  cent.  Now  note  the  difference  on  the  same  value  :  Weight  duty, 
87i  cents,  and  ad  valorem  duty,  27  cents  ;  total,  $1.14^  duty  on  a  foreign 
cost  of  44J  cents,  a  compound  duty  of  255  per  cent. 

Third. — A  German  astrakhan,  50  inches  wide,  costs  80  cents  a  yard 
and  weighs  23  ounces.  This  class  paid  formerly  18  cents  a  pound  and 
35  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  hence  in  weight  duty  25^  cents  and  ad  valorem  28 
cents,  a  total  of  53|^  cents,  equivalent  to  67^  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  Now, 
these  same  goods  have  to  pay  in  weight  duty  34  cents  and  ad  valorem 
duty  48  cents,  a  total  of  $1.33  on  80  cents  cost,  or  165  per  cent. 

Fourth. — Travelling  rugs,  of  which  the  Berlin  price  is  15  marks,  or 
$3.60,  were  sold  under  the  old  tariff  at  $6.25  wholesale,  and  retailed  by  the 
large  retail  houses  at  $7.50  under  the  old  duties.  They  cost  now  $10.50 
wholesale,  and  have  to  be  retailed  by  the  same  houses  at  $12  apiece. 
Formerly  the  consumer  paid  108  per  cent.,  and  now  he  has  to  pay  233 
per  cent.,  above  the  foreign  price. 

This,  indeed,  is  tariff  reform  with  a  vengeance.  But  if 
the  good  people  of  America  do  not  like  the  Republican 
way  of  lightening  taxes,  they  have  but  to  use  the  remedy 
as  laid  down  in  1  Kings,  chapter  xii.,  verses  16  to  18,  i.  e., 
change  rulers  and  undo  this  vicious  system  of  taxation. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  Si6 

Knit  Fabrics. 

Knit  fabrics  were  formerly  called  by  an  honest  Saxon 
name — "  knit  goods."  Under  this  homely  name  everything 
made  on  knitting  machines  and  frames  and  composed 
wholly  or  in  part  of  worsteds,  etc.,  paid  a  duty  (1)  on  goods 
not  exceeding  80  cents  a  pound,  10  cents  per  pound ;  (2) 
above  30  and  not  above  40  cents,  12  cents  per  pound ;  (3) 
above  40  and  not  above  60  cents,  13  cents  per  pound  ;  (4) 
above  60  cents,  24  cents  per  pound,  and  in  addition  on  all 
these  grades,  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem ;  (5)  on  goods  above 
80  cents  a  pound  the  duty  was  35  cents  per  pound  and 
40  per  cent  ad  valorem.  The  duties  averaged  about  70 
per  cent. 

But  now  on  "knit  fabrics  "  and  "all  knit  fabrics  made 
on  knitting  machines  and  frames "  the  duties  are  on 
goods  (1)  valued  at  not  more  than  30  cents  a  pound,  33 
cents  per  pound  and  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem^  equal  to  some 
140  per  cent;  (2)  valued  at  not  more  than  40  cents,  38|- 
cents  per  pound  and  40  per  cent  ad  valorem^  and  (3)  valued 
above  40  cents  a  pound,  44  cents  per  pound,  and  in 
addition  thereto  50  per  cent  ad  valorem.,  or  150  per  cent 

Mark  the  difference.  The  fourth  and  fifth  clauses  are 
omitted,  and  the  highest  rates  are  imposed  on  the  40-cent 
value  limit,  instead  of  the  80-cent  limit,  as  under  the  old 
law.  This  is  honest  work.  Brutally  realistic.  But  we 
know  what  it  means  when  applied  to  knit  goods. 

But  this  was  not  enough  for  the  law  makers.  One  can- 
not so  easily  cheat  the  people  under  Saxon  names  of  things, 
so  if  you  have  sinister  designs  you  have  recourse  to  the  old 
lawyer's  trick  and  dive  into  Norman-English.  Hence  they 
said,  "Let  us  call  'knit  goods'  'knit  fabrics.'  Under  this 
change  of  name  the  common  folk  will  not  see  what  you  are 


846  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

after."  They  soon  learned  it  when  the  Board  of  Appraisers 
of  New  York  decided  that  the  goods  heretofore  imported  as 
knit  goods  are  not  knit  fabrics  at  all,  but  must  be  rated  as 
wearing  apparel  and  clothing,  and  pay  duties  at  the  rate  of 
492"  cents  a  pound  and  60  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

It  is  not  my  province  to  analyze  minutely  the  error  in 
the  judgment  of  the  wise  Daniels,  nor  to  find  fault  with 
them,  as  they  may  possibly  not  have  had  the  case  brought 
before  them  with  the  full  array  of  facts  that  ought  to  accom- 
pany cases  involving  a  good  deal  of  technical  detail.  We 
are  here  concerned  only  with  the  tariff  and  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction for  the  protection  of  which  American  consumers 
are  made  to  pay  two  and  three  times  the  entire  value  of  the 
goods  in  duties.  It  suffices  to  mention  that  what  has  been 
said  concerning  cotton  hose  applies  here  also.  The  goods 
we  manufacture  in  America  are  of  an  entirely  different  kind 
from  what  we  import.  I  doubt — and  I  base  my  doubts  on 
very  substantial  grounds  and  figures — that  any  of  these 
goods  which  we  manufacture  successfully  could  be  imported 
even  if  all  duties  were  removed.  What  we  import  is  a 
higher  class  of  regular-fashioned  half  hose,  hose,  shirts,  and 
drawers.  The  knitting  on  circular  frames,  on  which  the 
material  is  made  for  our  shirts  and  drawers,  is  done  so  rap- 
idly and  so  cheaply  that  we  can  dismiss  the  question  of 
labor  in  the  product  of  knitting  at  once.  A  knitting  ma- 
chine which  I  saw  in  operation  in  Philadelphia,  which  made 
jersey  cloth  60  inches  wide  and  weighing  10  ounces  per 
yard,  turned  out  120  pounds  a  day.  We  can  judge  from 
this  what  the  much  heavier  stock  will  be,  out  of  which 
shirts  and   drawers  are  cut*     The  making  up  is  a  very 

*  The  heavier  and  coarser  goods  going  into  undershirts  and  drawers 
would  be  turned  out  at  double  the  rate  of  yards  to  the  pound  of  yarn. 
It  is  safe,  therefore,  to  estimate  that,  taking  1^  yards,  roughly  speaking, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  347 

simple  affair  and  of  trifling  expense,  as  it  is  all  machine 
work. 

It  is  different  with  the  so-called  regular  made  goods.  I 
made  comparisons  of  cost  in  Nottingham  and  America,  and 
behold  I  the  wages  by  the  piece  are  pretty  nearly  the  same 
in  the  two  countries.  I  will  not  go  into  the  details  of  com- 
parisons of  machinery,  output,  and  cost  of  production.  It 
will  suffice  to  quote  from  an  American  manufacturer  who 
wrote  to  me  after  we  had  gone  through  his  mill  and  had 
compared  notes : 

"  I  think  that  as  far  as  our  industry  is  concerned  you  should  modify 
the  statement  that  the  labor  cost  by  the  piece  is  not  so  very  different 
abroad  from  what  it  is  here  ;  viz.,  that  while  the  cost  of  knitting  is  about 
the  same  here  as  in  England,  the  cost  of  seaming  and  finishing  is  more 
than  double  here." 

I  accept  this  modification  as  perfectly  correct.  I  want 
those  standing  on  the  other  side  of  the  controversy  to  draw 
every  possible  advantage  from  this  substantial  fact,  when- 
ever a  new  and,  let  us  hope,  rational  tariff  shall  be  enacted. 

In  America  50  cents  a  dozen  was  paid  in  1887  for  seam- 
ing regular  made  shirts  and  drawers.  In  England  18c?.,  or 
%Q  cents,  was  paid  for  hand  sewing,  and  12c?.  (24  cents)  for 
machine  sewing.  For  finishing  men's  shirts  85  cents,  and 
drawers  $1.10,  was  the  American  average.  This  includes 
hand  sewing  on  the  neck,  the  bands,  buttons,  and  button- 
holes, pieces  set  in,  and  all  finishing  labor.  In  England  this 
work  is  given  out  to  be  done  by  outside  workpeople.  But 
allotting  one-half  only  of  the  American  expense  to  the  Eng- 
lish workingwomen,  we  have  in  all  the  making-up  expense 

to  make  a  pair  of  drawers  or  an  undershirt,  one  knitting  machine  tended 
at  the  rate  of  less  than  $1.50  a  day  would  turn  out  material  suflBcient  for 
6  dozen  shirts  and  6  dozen  drawers. 


548  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

of  a  dozen  regular-made  shirts  a  difference  of  60  cents,  and  on 
a  dozen  of  drawers  of  75  cents.  What  formidable  measures 
were  adopted  for  the  protection  of  sucli  trifling  labor  differ- 
ences!  Truly,  "diving  into  the  ocean  and  bringing  up  a 
potsherd."  Of  course,  there  was  some  other  motive  than  all 
this,  the  motive  of  the  McKinlej  act,  with  which  the  reader 
is  familiar  already,  to  wit:  To  exclude,  wherever  feasible, 
foreign  importations,  as  we  might  possibly  at  some  unde- 
fined time  become  expert  enough  to  make  "  everything  at 
home,"  and  in  the  meantime  to  be  free  to  charge  the  con- 
sumer whatever  home  producers  may  agree  on. 

Carpets. 

A  review  of  the  woolen  industry  and  the  wanton  charac- 
ter of  recent  legislation  would  not  be  complete  without  an 
examination  of  the  carpet  industry.  As  the  strength  of  a 
chain  is  determined  by  its  weakest  link,  so  is  the  absurdity 
of  tariff  legislation  shown  by  the  strain  it  places  on  our  in. 
dustries. 

Carpets  are  made  at  a  lower  cost  here  than  even  in  Eng- 
land, at  least  in  the  lower  grades,  such  as  ingrain  carpets, 
and  as  cheaply  as  there  in  Brussels,  etc.  A  comparison  of 
the  cost  and  manufacturing  methods  of  two-ply  ingrains 
shows  the  following : 

Philadelphia.  LuEDa. 

Labor.     Expense.     Total.  Labor.  Expense.     Total. 

Tarn —  —        38.75  —  —         28.75 

i?'^"^;; ^^^^-^^l     _       7.92       tti    -       «-26 

General  labor  . .         2.67)  3.76) 

General  expense  —         2.4)         .  —         5.0 ) 

Selling  expense.  —         2.01"  —         2.5) 


Total 7.92        4.4        51.07  8.26        7,5        44.51 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  349 

In  England  much  of  this  class  of  goods  is  still  made  on 
hand  looms.  The  rates  quoted  above  are  from  a  power  mill 
near  Leeds.  The  hand-loom  weaver  gets  10  cents  a  yard  (5 
pence).  He  obtains  the  yarn  and  returns  the  finished  carpet. 
The  labor  cost  is  calculated  at  the  same  rate  in  the  two 
methods  of  work.  What  the  hand  weaver  gets  more  (10 
cents  against  8.26  cents  for  the  power-loom  w^ork)  is  taken 
from  the  5  cents  charged  in  the  above  comparison  under 
"  General  Expense,"  which,  of  course,  is  considerably  higher 
in  power-loom  weaving  tban  in  hand-loom  weaving. 

After  my  report  had  been  published,  an  English  carpet 
manufacturer  wrote  me  that  it  would  be  erroneous  to  assume 
that  ingrain  carpets  were  manufactured  to  a  large  extent  on 
hand  looms.  But,  curiously  enough,  he  insisted  that  I  had 
stated  the  manufacturing  cost  too  low ;  that  burling,  warp- 
ing, finishing,  and  general  expense  would  not  be  covered  bj 
what  had  been  stated.  This  by  the  way  only.  The  com- 
parison between  English  and  American  cost  shows  that  the 
labor  cost,  from  the  yarn  up,  is  somewhat  higher  in  England. 
The  lower  American  cost  of  "  general  labor  "  on  the  yard 
price  is  in  this  instance  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  distributed 
over  a  much  larger  output.  The  same  refers  to  the  general 
expense  item.  The  higher  cost  of  yarn  is  due  entirely  to 
the  higher  cost  of  wool  in  consequence  of  the  wool  tariff. 
Without  this  tax  we  could  easily  export  carpets,  as  can  be 
seen  from  the  foregoing  comparison,  and  from  the  selling 
price  of  carpets.  This  at  the  time  barely  covered  the  cost 
of  production,  and  certainly  would  hardly  do  so  now,  under 
the  McKinley  blessings  (so  assiduously  invoked  bj  certain 
carpet  manufacturers),  culminating  in  the  recent  forced  sales 
of  2,500,000  yards  of  carpets  at  one  auction  sale — and  the 
continued  stagnation  in  the  trade. 

But  the  public  was  informed  by  a  gentleman  in  Phila- 


850  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

delphia,  one  of  the  largest  carpet  manufacturers  there,  that 
I  had  considerably  understated  the  manufacturing  cost; 
that  he  had  given  me  figures  which  I  had  seen  fit  to  dis- 
regard, and  adopt  figures  given  me  by  others.  He  said  that 
it  cost  him  12.21  cents  in  labor  to  make  a  yard  of  ingrain 
carpet  from  the  yarn  up,  instead  of  7.92  cents,  as  stated  by 
me,  and  that  the  yarn  would  cost  another  like  amount  of 
12.21  cents  in  labor  to  prepare  from  the  wool  up.  (This  I 
need  not  discuss,  because  I  took  the  yarn  cost  in  the  amount.) 
He  further  stated  to  the  world  that  where  he  pays  12.21  for 
the  weaving  part,  the  English  pay  only  bl  cents.  Yet  with 
all  this  the  English  manage  to  get  2s.  2o?.,  or  52  cents  a 
yard,  for  what  the  American  manufacturer  gets  50  cents  a 
yard,  or  47|-  cents  net. 

According  to  Mr.  Dobson,  the  gentleman  in  question,  not 
unknown  to  those  who  have  followed  the  history  of  the 
tariff  enactments  under  plushes  and  pile  fabrics  in  wool  and 
silk,  the  50  cents  worth  of  carpet  costs  him  twice  12.21,  or 
24.42  cents  plus  4.4,  or  28.82  cents,  which  leaves  for  the 
cost  of  the  wool  contained  in  one  and  one  quarter  pounds 
of  yarn  less  than  20  cents,  which  he  says  (and  1  had  admitted 
it  in  England)  is  of  better  quality  than  the  English  wool. 
What  tremendous  profits  these  Englishmen  must  be  mak- 
ing! Paying  one-third  less  for  their  wool,  with  labor  and 
other  items  of  cost,  only  40  per  cent,  of  ours,  and  selling 
their  goods  at  a  greater  price  than  we  obtain  in  an  entirely 
reserved  home  market. 

Mr.  Dobson  has  to  pay,  according  to  his  own  statement, 
an  average  of  100  per  cent,  more,  counting  labor  and  wool, 
and  cannot  get  a  jot  more  in  return  than  the  English  free- 
trade  manufacturer.  Does  he  not  see  that  he  paints  in  the 
most  glaring  colors  the  utter  breakdown  of  the  beloved 
system?     I  must  state  that  Mr.  Dobson  gave  me  the  price 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  35I 

for  weaving  at  5  cents  for  plain  and  5|^  cents  for  the  shaded 
work.  This  he  will  undoubtedly  find  correct  and  in  keep- 
ing with  pay  rolls  and  trade  facts.  He  gave  me  47^  cents 
as  the  prices  netted  to  him  from  the  sales,  and  a  lot  of  other 
data  which  would  make  interesting  reading  if  set  side  by 
side  with  assertions  made  in  the  fall  of  1888.  But  then 
there  was  a  political  campaign  in  progress,  for  which  char- 
itable allowance  must  be  made.  The  results  of  the  cam- 
paign did  not  prove  very  profitable.  With  the  shepherds 
he  went  to  shear  and  came  home  shorn.  Yet  anybody 
could  have  foreseen  it  except  a  political  manufacturer.  I 
quoted  5|  cents  for  weaving  wages,  taking  Mr.  Dobson's 
average  figures,  and  an  output  of  thirty  yards  per  day; 
though  on  the  new  Knowles  and  Crom-pton  looms  a  lower 
rate  of  only  4  cents  is  being  paid,  but  an  output  of  forty 
yards  keeps  up  the  earnings  to  the  same  standard. 

These  facts  and  the  quoting  of  the  respective  selling 
prices  alone  would  prove  that  with  free  wool  and  free  dye- 
stuffs  we  could  export  largely.  Why,  then,  those  extraor- 
dinary efforts  to  silence  the  fact  that  the  higher  working 
capacity  of  our  operative,  the  better  organization  of  our 
mills,  and  the  more  extensive  use  of  improved  machinery 
make  high  earnings  possible,  while  at  the  same  time  they 
produce  goods  cheaper  than  in  countries  where  opposite 
conditions  prevail  ? 

Summary  of  Com.parative  Cost  in  Woolens  and 
Worsteds. — What  is  the  Cost  Difference  under 
Free  Wool  ? 

Having  reviewed  the  positions  which  wool  and  woolens 
occupy  in  England  and  in  America,  methods  of  manufac- 
ture and  cost  of  production  of  identical  articles,  representa- 


852  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

tive  in  their  nature  of  great  branches,  we  can  now  answer  a 
question  frequently  asked ;  viz.,  What  is  the  relative  position 
of  American  labor  cost  in  the  fabric  if  the  English  is  repre- 
sented by  100  ?  The  question,  as  frequently  asked,  is  "  On 
woolens,"  as  if  woolens  were  a  uniform  article  like  steel 
rails  or  pig-iron.  In  this  form  it  no  more  admits  of  an 
answer  than  if  it  were  on  "  a  pound  of  machinery."  But 
in  the  form  prepared  by  this  present  inquiry  we  can  define 
the  relative  positions  in  equivalent  fabrics  and  leave  to 
others  the  drawing  of  conclusions.  Whatever  the  ratio  of 
labor  to  material,  it  must  be  plain  that  where  material  is 
free,  the  same  percentage  of  labor  cost  would  express  a 
value  entirely  different  from  that  expressed  where  the  raw 
material  is  taxed.  Furthermore,  it  will  be  remembered 
that,  while  many  labor  items  are  considerably  above  Eng- 
lish cost,  chiefly  in  the  weaving,  the  general  cost  differences 
are  almost  equalized  by  the  difference  in  manufacturing  sys- 
tems, etc.,  as  fully  explained  above.  I  will,  therefore,  sum- 
marize the  comparisons  under  equal  wool  cost  in  both 
countries,  and  unequal  cost  (taxed  w^ool  in  America  and 
free  wool  in  England),  and  compare  these  with  the  net  labor 
cost,  as  also  with  the  general  manufacturing  cost.  As  this 
latter  makes  up  the  cost  of  the  goods  and  represents  the 
commercial  aspect  of  the  case,  the  only  one  of  value  in  this 
demonstration,  it  is  necessarily  the  one  to  fix  our  attention 
on. 

ARTICLES  REPRESENTING  "NUMBERS." 

Worsteds  as  No.  1. 

Carded  Wool  Dress  Goods  as  No.  2. 

6-4  Cheviots  (Shoddy  and  Wool)  as  No.  3. 

6-4  All- Wool  Kersey  Cloth  as  No.  4. 

Two-ply  Ingrain  Carpet  as  No.  5. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 


353 


RATIO  OP  LABOR  AND  OP  THE  TOTAL  MANUPACTURING 
COST  IN  AMERICA  TO  WOOL  TAXED,  AND  IN  ENGLAND 
TO  FREE  WOOL. 


1 
2 
3 
4 
5 


Wool  Cost. 


Enorland. 


Cents. 
44 
32 
25 
52 
28.7* 


America, 


Cents. 
84 
70 
35 
84 
38.7 


Labor. 


England .  America 


Cents. 
25 
14.4 
12.8 
15 
8.3 


Cents. 
40 
18.6 
18 
22 


Total  Manufac- 
turing Cost  Ex- 
clusive OF  Wool. 


England. 


Cents. 
46 
38 
30 
31 
15.8 


America, 


Cents. 
50 
33 
30.4 
36 
12.3 


Ratio,  England 
BEING  100. 


Labor. 


107 

88 

120 

100 

84 


Mfg. 
Cost. 


73 
61 

84 
80 
68 


The  reader  will  observe  by  this  statement  the  fallacy  of 
statistical  demonstrations  of  ratios  if  the  co-efficients  are  not 
of  equal  values.  The  labor  expense  in  a  pound  of  cloth  is 
higher  in  the  five  species  of  woolens  (varying  from  —3  in  car- 
pets to  4-60  per  cent,  in  worsteds).  In  percentage  relation 
to  the  total  cost,  the  difference  almost  disappears,  and  if 
averaged  the  ratio  is  the  same  as  in  England.  The  general 
cost  of  manufacturing,  exclusive  of  the  wool,  is  nearly  the 
same  in  the  two  countries.  The  ratio  of  percentage,  how- 
ever, is  61,  68,  73,  80,  and  84  against  100  in  England.  An 
arithmetical  absurdity,  but  statistical  reality.  The  classifi- 
cation of  unrelated  parts  and  the  comparison  of  unequal 
denominations  lead  to  results  as  faulty  in  statistics  as  in 
ciphering. 

The  only  valid  comparison,  then,  is  of  like  and  like: 
material  at  even  cost,  and  the  labor  cost,  and  the  manufac- 
turing cost 

*  Yam  cost. 


28 


854  I'SE  ECONOMY  OF  UIOU  WAGES. 

The  relations  then  are : 


Wool  Cost 

Labor  in 

Manufaotukino 
Expense. 

Ratio,  I 

BRINC 

Sngland 
}  100. 

England. 

.  America. 

England. 

America. 

Labor. 

Mfg.  Cost. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Cents. 
44 
32 
25 
52 
28.7 

Cents. 
25 
14.4 
12.8 
15 
8.3 

Cents. 
40 
18.6 
18 
22 
8 

Cents. 
46 
38 
30 
31 
15.8 

Cents. 
50 
33 
30.4 
36 
12.3 

150 
1H6 
141 
139 
105 

104 

92 

101 

108 

85 

In  these  tables  we  have  compared  the  single  factors  of 
labor  and  of  manufacturing  expense.  In  the  final  value  the 
cost  of  the  material  is  included,  and  this  added  to  the  other 
elements  of  cost,  of  course,  changes  the  relations  of  values. 

Then  the  two  positions  are  changed  to  this : 

VALUE   OF  GOODS   IN   ENGLAND   AND  IN  AMERICA  WITH 
FREE    WOOL. 

England.  America.  Batio  to  England,  100. 

Cents.  Cents. 

1 90  94  104.4 

2 70  66  98 

8 55  65.4  100.8 

4 83  88  106 

6 44.5  41  92 

But  it  may  be  said  that  if  the  factory  methods  of  Amer- 
ica were  employed  abroad,  and  there  lowered  the  cost  of 
production,  outside  of  the  direct  labor  expense,  to  that  of 
America,  the  difference  calling  for  the  intercession  of  the 
protective  tariff  would  by  no  means  be  so  low  as  the  last 
column,  representing  the  manufacturing  ratio,  indicates. 

In  that  case  even  the  American  ratio  against  100  of 
England  would  be  expressed  in  the  following  : 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  355 

Additional        Total  Present  Ratio 

Wool.  English         American  Ideal  Actual      American  to 

Labor.    Manufacturing.   English.      American.      English. 

Cost.  Cost.  Cost.  Cost.  Cost. 

1 44  25  10  79  94  119 

2 32  14.4  14.4  60.8  65  107 

3 25  12.8  12.4  50  55.4  110 

4 52  15  14  81  88  109 

5 28.7  8.3  4.3  41.3  41  100 

We  cannot  even  here  discover  an  impending  doom.  All 
that  "  the  enemies  of  American  industries,"  the  tariff  re- 
formers, have  so  far  proposed  in  reference  to  woolens  has 
been  in  the  extremest  case — free  wool  and  a  tariff  of  35  per 
cent,  ad  valorem.  The  above  demonstration  of  facts  proves 
that  the  actual  differences  of  cost  in  the  ratio  of  100  are  ex- 
pressed bj  the  counter  figures  of  100.4,  93,  100.8,  106,  and 
92.  Even  under  the  complete  approximation  of  English 
cost  to  American  methods  and  cost,  the  difference  would 
be— ratio  of  100—119,  107,  110,  109,  and  100  in  the  order 
followed  above. 

But  practically  this  is  a  non-existing  condition,  not  likely 
to  become  a  reality  under  the  principles  governing  produc- 
tion, as  explained  in  the  first  part  of  this  book.  In  fact, 
the  differences  would  be  covered,  as  seen  from  the  showing 
of  the  real  cost  of  production,  by  less  than  10  per  cent. 
The  cost  differences  are  so  small  that  they  would  not  weigh 
in  the  balance  in  a  question  of  tariff  reform.  The  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  our  woolen  manufacturers  have  been 
great.  But  the  dearness  and  isolation  in  raw  materials  by 
tariff  exclusion  alone  have  handicapped  them,  and  this  to 
such  an  extent  that  woolens  form  now  one  of  the  weakest 
links  in  our  industrial  chain.  They  will  be  one  of  the 
strongest  when  we  have  removed  the  impertinent  barriers 
w^hich  paternalism  in  government  has  interposed  to  their 
free  development 


CHAPTER   XTV. 

The  Making-up  Industries. — The  Berlin  Manufacturing  System. — Indus- 
tries protected,  but  not  by  Tariffs. 

A  REVIEW  of  the  development  of  textile  industries  would 
not  be  complete  without  an  examination  of  the  making-up 
industries.  Beginning  with  the  methods  of  the  old  countries, 
the  tailor  in  his  shop,  or,  like  the  seamstress,  in  the  customer  s 
house*  and  the  shoemaker  at  his  bench,  we  have  here,  in 
America,  gone  through  a  most  thorough  process  of  evolu- 
tion, and  arrived  at  a  stage  at  which  the  wholesale  manu- 
facturing and  distributing  system  has  absorbed  the  old 
trades  and  the  means  formerly  employed  in  making  up  the 
clothing  of  the  people.  We  were  driven  to  it  by  the  irre- 
sistible force  of  circumstances — the  rapid  growth  of  popu- 
lation, the  rush  westward  into  the  untrodden  wilderness, 
the  sudden  appearance  of  States  with  millions  of  inhabit- 
ants (for  what  are  ten  or  twenty  years,  which  mark  the 
time  of  their  life  and  phenomenal  development?).  All  this 
put  it  out  of  the  question,  that  the  old  ways  could  prevail. 

Most  of  the  labor  required  is  agricultural  Outside  of 
this,  the  multitudes  attracted  are  the  trading  classes,  who 
supply  the  country  with  necessaries  not  raised  on  the  farm, 

*  The  practice  prevailed,  from  my  own  recollection,  in  the  larger 
towns  even,  some  thirty  years  ago  in  Germany.  In  the  smaller  towns 
and  in  the  country  it  is  the  practice  known  to-day  for  the  tailor  to  come 
to  the  customers  to  make  up  the  men's  clothes.  He  is  paid  by  the  day 
or  the  job,  and  takes  his  meals  at  the  patron's  house. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  357 

and,  in  exchange,  take  the  produce  of  the  soil  to  the  hungry 
millions  eastward. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  find  skilled  help  at  all  adequate 
to  the  wants  of  a  population  rapidly  growing  in  numbers 
and  prosperity.  The  population  is  far  too  energetic,  the 
labor  of  men  and  women  too  much  engaged  on  other  more 
engrossing  work,  to  allow  the  use  of  time  in  the  making  of 
homespun  and  of  clothing  as  of  old.  Further,  the  necessity 
has  ceased  to  exist.  The  railroad  follows,  or  rather  goes 
ahead,  and  marks  the  location  of  future  settlements.  Hence, 
nowhere  except  in  remote  mountain  districts  do  any  of  the 
old  methods  prevail.  Domestic  industries  have  no  footing 
in  our  whirling,  rapid,  pushing  life.  Even  in  our  old  States, 
similar  causes  have  led  to  the  same  condition  of  things. 
The  "art  tailor"  and  the  "pedal  artist"  hang  out  their 
gilded  sign-boards  and  are  patronized  by  the  fastidious,  but 
the  masses  look  to  the  stores  for  what  is  required  to  cover 
their  nakedness. 

Indeed,  take  the  male  of  the  species,  and  you  find  not  a 
single  article  of  clothing  which  he  can  not  and,  with  few 
exceptions,  does  not  supply  from  a  store.  With  the  female 
it  is  becoming  more  and  more  so  from  year  to  year.  This 
implies  a  complete  transformation  of  industries.  It  implies, 
also,  an  equally  complete  transformation  in  the  distributive 
trades  of  the  country.  In  some  lines  it  affects  even  the 
question  of  exports  of  fabrics.  It  has  been  said  before,  that 
the  cause  of  England's  heavy  exports  in  cotton  goods  is  not 
her  cheaper  labor,  but,  by  the  use  of  finer  yarns,  her  sav- 
ing of  cotton,  and  filling  up  by  heavily  sizing  with  clay 
and  other  sizing  materials.  Now,  we  make  our  cottons 
with  very  little  sizing,  because  most  of  them,  or  so  large  a 
proportion  of  them  that  they  determine  the  character  of 
the  output,  go  into  the   clothing  or   underwear  factories, 


358  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

where,  under  the  sewing  machines,  heavily-sized  cottons 
would  not  be  workable  at  all. 

The  number  of  hands  employed  in  the  wholesale  manu- 
facture of  clothing  for  men  and  women  in  1880  was  185,000, 
against  103,000  engaged  in  woolens  and  worsteds.  In  boots 
and  shoes  188,000  hands  were  employed,  while  all  the 
leather  made  in  the  United  States  did  not  give  employment 
to  more  than  40,000  working  people.  Yet  the  value  of 
leather  tanned,  curried,  and  varnished  is  $200,000,000  and 
of  boots  and  shoes  $207,000,000.  This  shows  how  the  ratio 
of  employment  increases  in  the  progress  of  industries  from 
the  crude  materials  to  the  finished  article  of  wear.  The 
total  of  employment  given  in  all  the  different  making-up 
industries  in  textiles  and  leather  is  some  435,000  to  440,000 
persons,  while  all  the  woolens,  worsteds,  mixed  goods, 
carpets,  cotton  goods,  silks,  and  leather  employ  only  420,000 
people.  The  new  census  will  undoubtedly  show  a  very 
great  increase  in  the  ratio  of  ready-made  goods  to  piece 
goods,  as  tke  tendency  has  all  the  time  been  in  the  direction 
of  the  wholesale  manufacturer  absorbing  more  and  more 
what  remains  of  the  old  isolated  shop.  The  cloak  industry 
had  a  most  phenomenal  rise  in  the  eighties,  to  the  nearly 
entire  extinction  of  the  once  very  extensive  shawl  trade. 

Now,  strange  enough,  none  of  these  trades  has  had  much 
to  say  for  an  increase  of  protective  duties  in  the  different 
tariff  deals  through  which  our  generation  has  passed.  At 
times  they  did  raise  their  voices  for  a  decrease  of  duties  on 
the  materials  which  they  consume.  But  of  what  avail  is  the 
cry  of  the  clothing  manufacturer,  the  cloakmaker,  and  the 
shirtmaker  against  the  well-supported  woolen  or  shoddy 
manufacturer  (the  latter  the  most  vigorous  opponent  of  free 
wool)  ?  The  former  do  not  threaten  destruction  to  the  party 
when  their  interests  are  not  taken  care  of,  as  the  political 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH  WAGES.  359 

shepherds  of  Ohio  do  when  the  wool  tariff's  existence  is 
threatened,  nor  prophesy  the  extinction  of  an  industry  on  a 
reduction  of  duties  equal  to  the  compensatory  wool  duty  in 
the  tariff  on  woolens,  as  many  wool  and  shoddy  manufact- 
urers have  been  doing  during  recent  campaigns.  They 
show,  perhaps,  less  regard  to  politics  than  would  be  useful 
to  them  in  a  business  world  whose  aspects  and  prospects  are 
so  largely  at  the  mercj^  of  ignorant  legislators.  They  attend 
strictly  to  business;  make  money  or  lose  money — mostly 
make.  But,  certainly,  if  the  claim  that  the  American 
laborer  and  manufacturer  cannot  exist  without  high  protec- 
tion is  true,  then  the  protection  remaining  over  for  these 
workers,  after  the  subsidiary  industries  have  taken  their 
slice  out  of  the  all-round  allowance,  must  be  insufficient 
The  low  day  wages  paid  to  the  sewing  women  of  London 
in  the  clothing,  and  to  the  female  workers  in  Berlin  in  the 
cloak  trade,  would  make  it  seem  easy  for  England  and  Ger- 
many to  flood  us  with  their  ready-made  clothing,  certainly 
with  their  surplus  stocks. 

But  even  the  importation  of  cloaks  from  Berlin,  now 
doing  the  principal  exporting  trade  of  the  world  in  that  line, 
cuts  but  a  small  figure ;  smaller  and  smaller  from  year  to 
year,  though  we  still  get  a  good  many  first  importations  for 
fashion  and  style.  Our  whole  importation  of  ready-made 
clothes,  about  half  of  which  are  cloaks,  does  not  exceed  $1,- 
750,000.  The  reason  is  plain — the  actual  labor  differences 
are  trifling  in  the  end,  though  the  daily  earnings  of  some  of 
the  workingwomen  in  the  East  End  of  London,  whom  I  vis- 
ited to  inquire  for  myself  into  their  condition,  were  so  low 
that  no  American  woman  would  find  it  possible,  to  sustain 
life  on  the  pittance.  The  main  cause,  however,  lies  in  the 
impossibility  of  satisfying  from  foreign  countries  the  tastes 
and  wants  of  so  whimsical  a  market  as  ours.     The  difficul- 


360  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

ties  increase  as  the  manufacturing  stages  become  more  and 
more  removed  from  the  raw  material.  In  ready-made  cloth- 
ing the  diflBiculties  are  insuperable.  Few  persons  in  Amer- 
ica would  wear,  even  if  offered  at  a  few  dollars  less  than  a 
corresponding  home-made  article,  the  product  of  the  Lon- 
don or  Leeds  ready-made  clothing  industries,  far  less  the 
clothes  which  make  the  breast  of  Hans  or  Jean  swell  with 
honest  pride  when  he  dons  them  on  a  Sunday  afternoon.  So 
we  need  not  fear  an  extinction  of  our  civilization  from  that 
quarter. 

In  cloaks  this  could  be  done  more  easily.  They  have  in 
Berlin  great  advantages  over  us  in  the  selection  of  materials, 
especially  woolens.  Their  cloakings  are  much  softer  and 
drape  better.  Even  their  mixed,  shoddy-filled  goods  are 
more  pliable  and  hang  better  in  the  folds.  Their  styles  are 
all  that  can  be  desired,  and  furnish  the  patterns  that  ours 
are  formed  on.  Taking  the  difference  between  our  high- 
cost  woolens,  satins,  and  trimmings,  it  was  easy  to  import 
foreign  cloaks  under  the  old  tariff,  and  is  so  still  under  the 
new.  Taxing  the  materials  excessively  neutralizes — confis- 
cates, so  to  speak — protection  on  the  finished  garment. 
American  dry -goods  dealers,  as  well  as  cloak  manufacturers, 
were  not  slow  to  perceive  this  and  avail  themselves  of  the 
opportunities.  Berlin-made  garments  were  for  some  time 
quite  a  feature  in  trade,  and  were  advertised  as  articles  of 
particular  attraction.  American  houses  established  factories 
in  Berlin,  and,  by  consigning  the  products  of  their  factories 
there  to  themselves  here,  had  the  advantage  of  entering  the 
goods  on  a  lower  rate  of  valuation  than  houses  that  bought 
their  supply  from  Berlin  manufacturers.  They  could  even 
obviate  the  great  difficulty  mentioned  above,  inasmuch  as 
they  were  to  the  manner  born,  and  knew  what  the  American 
trade  would  want  and  what  not. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIQH   WAGES.  361 


The  Manufacturing  System  of  Berlin. 

But  easy  as  it  seems,  pencil  ia  hand,  calculating  the  cost 
— the  savings  and  the  sure  profit — to  order  accordingly,  it 
is  not  a  safe  operation  after  all,  as  many  have  found  out. 
The  difficulties  are  not  very  great ;  quite  the  contrary. 
Everything  in  the  Berlin  market  is  so  habitual  and  in 
customary  trim,  that  any  one  who  knows  what  his  trade 
wants,  and  whose  individual  requirements  are  of  enough 
magnitude  to  spend  sufficient  time  in  Berlin,  or  to  have  a 
reliable  and  expert  man  to  represent  him,  can  go  to  work 
and  be  a  cloak  manufacturer.  The  system  is  a  remarkable 
one.  It  shows  how  the  old,  ingrained,  domestic  industr}' 
has  persevered.  It  has  been  greatly  extended,  but  has  not 
changed  in  character.  The  shop  may  be  larger,  it  may  em- 
ploy more  hands,  but  it  has  not  lost  its  distinctive  feature. 
The  shop  may  subdivide  its  labor,  but  alongside  and  in 
large  numbers  are  the  operators  who  take  the  garment  home 
from  the  contractor  and  complete  it,  with  the  exception, 
perhaps,  of  some  finishing  touches.  The  factory  has  not 
absorbed  or  transformed  an  old  system  ;  the  cloak  manufact- 
urer has  left  it  intact,  as  the  best  fitted  for  the  people,  and 
has  appropriated  it  to  his  purposes.  He  is  more  of  a  mer- 
chant than  a  manufacturer.  Berlin  cloakmakers,  in  a  way, 
get  their  styles  from  Paris.  They  willingly  pay  a  high 
price  for  the  brains  in  the  ideas  of  the  French  fashion 
makers.  These  are  fully  aware  of  the  salable  value  of  taste, 
and  govern  themselves  in  their  charges  accordingly.  A  cos- 
tume from  Worth  is  paid  at  the  rate  of  $200,  let  us  say,  which 
from  the  sewing  woman's  point  of  view  may  not  contain 
more  labor  than  one  for  $20.  These  patterns,  however,  are 
not  copied  exactly,  but  they  give  ideas  that  lead  to  numerous 


362  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

applications  and  adaptations  in  other  patterns  and  styles,  as 
turned  out  in  the  Berlin  establishments. 

When  the  season  opens,  the  manufacturers  have  a  large 
assortment  of  patterns  ready  for  all  countries  and  tastes. 
The  buyers  come,  place  their  orders,  with  changes  here  and 
there,  or  with  other  combinations  and  selections  of  materials. 
Unless  he  is  sure  of  his  cases,  the  manufacturer  makes  no 
stock  ahead.  When  hQ  has  booked  his  orders,  he  buys  his 
stock,  unless  he  purchased  at  reduced  prices  ahead  of  time 
from  holders  needing  the  cash.  But  quite  frequently  he 
gets  the  goods  made  by  the  large  mill,  or  the  large  number 
of  small  manufacturers  and  weaving  masters.  If  he  has  the 
stock  on  hand,  or  as  soon  as  he  has  it  delivered,  he  gets  his 
cloak-makers,  who  take  the  goods,  trimmings,  and  belong- 
ings to  their  shops,  where  they  have  to  do  all  the  incidental 
and  preparatory  parts  and  deliver  the  goods  ready  for  ship- 
ment. If  there  are  any  defects  in  the  work,  the  cloakmaker 
has  to  make  them  good.  The  manufacturer  has  no  further 
responsibility,  except  to  pay  the  man  the  stipulated  price. 

This  system  prevails  with  the  largest  houses.  One 
acknowledged  as  the  largest  manufacturer  in  the  line  told 
me  that  the  only  cutting  he  did  on  his  own  premises  was  of 
jerseys,  then  (1887)  manufactured  and  exported  in  large 
quantities  ;  that,  except  for  this,  he  employed  not  a  solitary 
cutter,  and  that  most  of  his  patterns  were  furnished  by  the 
cloakmakers.  It  is  the  common  custom  that  cloakmakers 
make  the  patterns  and  furnish  the  cloaks  at  a  stipulated 
price  for  the  making,  and  that  the  manufacturer  has  no 
other  function  than  the  furnishing  of  the  requisite  number 
of  yards  of  goods,  trimmings,  etc. 

Now,  with  all  these  advantages,  it  can  be  seen  how  easy 
it  becomes  for  Americans  to  supply  their  home  market  from 
so  inviting  a  manufacturing  system.     But  the  risks  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  363 

losses  were  soon  found  by  many  to  be  greater  than  the 
profits.  When  long  garments  were  brought  over,  a  ten- 
dency to  medium  or  short  styles  manifested  itself,  or  vice 
versa  ;  a  question  of  loose  or  half  or  wholly  tight  fitting,  or 
some  other  similar  discrimination  would  determine  whether 
the  enterprise  was  a  paying  or  a  losing  one.  Then  the 
question  of  materials  and  trimmings  is  not  less  grave,  and 
has  to  be  taken  into  consideration  along  with  the  other 
risks.  So  it  was  soon  found  that  even  an  unprotected 
industry  could  stand  the  onslaught  of  fierce  foreign  cheap 
labor,  always  anxious  to  keep  its  grip  on  the  American 
market.  The  business  has  gradually  dwindled  away,  and 
the  American  cloakmaker  holds  well-nigh  complete  control 
of  the  field.  Whatever  the  importations  may  have  been 
heretofore,  now  they  are  too  inconsiderable  to  interfere  with' 
his  trade,  his  profits,  or  the  wages  of  the  working  people. 

The  Sweating  System. 

The  world  has  of  late  heard  so  much  of  the  sweating 
system,  that  a  general  interest  is  aroused  by  the  mere  men- 
tion of  it.  The  first  question  is,  What  is  sweating?  The 
House  of  Lords'  Committee  made  a  profound  investiga- 
tion. Some  three  or  four  volumes,  thousands  of  pages  folio, 
were  printed,  containing  the  questions  of  noble  lords  and 
the  answers  of  common  people  (manufacturers,  merchants, 
and  working  people).  But  after  going  over  all  the  evideuce 
we  still  ask,  What  is  sweating  ?  Of  course,  we  know  it 
means  the  taking  from  working  people  a  part  of  their 
earnings  and  the  appropriation  of  it  by  others,  not  workers 
in  the  strict  sense.  The  man  who  takes  the  work  from  the 
manufacturer  would  then  be  a  sort  of  middle-man,  appro- 
priate a  certain  portion,  an  unearned  increment,  and  be  the 


364  "I'SE  ECONOMY  OP  HIGH   WAGES. 

sweater.  So  we  have  the  sweating  and  the  sweater  easily 
defined.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  locate  the  victim  and  the 
tyrant. 

The  next  step,  then,  is  to  propose  a  remedy — somewhat 
more  difficult — even  to  legislative  committees.  The  system 
finds  a  foothold  wherever  distributed  industries  exist  as 
against  the  factory  system.  In  England,  even  the  furni- 
ture and  upholstery  trades,  as  well  as  the  boot  and  shoe 
trades,  and,  as  we  have  seen  already,  the  nail  and  small 
chain  making  trades,  besides  the  clothing  and  cloak  mak- 
ing trades,  are  to  a  large  extent  conducted  on  this  system. 
In  America  the  system  of  giving  out  work  through  the 
medium  of  what  we  may  term  "sweating"  until  we  shall 
have  found  our  own  definition,  has  maintained  itself  as 
against  the  factory  in  no  line  except  ready-made  clothing 
and  cloaks.  The  middle-man  takes  the  work  from  the 
manufacturer  in  larger  or  smaller  quantities.  If  the  goods 
were  distributed  to  individuals  and  finished  by  them,  and 
the  middle  man  or  woman  appropriated  part  of  the  wages 
for  no  other  but  mandatory  services,  this  would  properly 
be  "  sweating."  This  sort  of  business  is  practiced  frequently 
by  cutters  in  the  trade  or  by  department  men,  so  far  as 
the  English  commission's  evidence  goes  to  prove.  The 
system  of  taking  commissions  for  preferences  has  grown 
rank,  and  has  become  one  of  regular  practice  for  levying  toll 
on  all  work  taken  home  or  letting  poor  people,  who  come 
from  distances,  go  without  work.  A  working  woman,  do- 
ing work  for  a  certain  firm,  the  principal  partner  a  member 
of  the  County  Council,  told  me  that  she  had  often  to  stand 
for  half  a  day  vainly  waiting  for  work,  and  then  to  walk 
home  empty  handed,  without  work  and  without  money.  If 
the  poor  white  slaves  should  complain  to  the  firm,  generally 
concerned  only  in  getting  the  work  at  the  lowest  possible 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  365 

price,  it  would  be  worse  for  them  yet.  Then  they  might 
never  get  any  work  from  the  contemptible,  petty  despot. 
The  nefarious  practice  may  not  obtain  in  America  now, 
but  I  remember  that  in  former  times  complaints  were  not 
infrequent  But  this  is  not  "  sweating,"  in  the  meaning  in 
which  the  term  is  applied,  though  it  be  the  genuine  blood- 
sucking and  grinding  of  the  faces  of  the  poor  working- 
women. 

It  may  seem  stranger  yet  when  I  say  that  the  sweater 
who  follows  his  vocation  honestly  and  openly  has  even  been 
the  instrument  to  make  the  other  practices  gradually  be- 
come extinct,  or  at  least  less  harmful.  The  "sweater,"  as 
we  see  him  brought  under  public  notice,  is  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  contractor,  a  contre-maitre,  or  foreman,  a  superin- 
tendent— in  fact,  the  manufacturer  proper.  He  stands  in 
the  same  position  in  which  we  have  found  the  weaving 
masters  in  Lyons.  He  takes  the  work  from  the  firms,  sub- 
divides it  among  his  hands,  has  to  superintend  the  progress 
as  well  as  to  examine  the  work  before  delivering  it,  to  fur- 
nish the  shop  light  and  fuel,  and,  as  we  learn  from  the  Eng- 
lish proceedings,  tea  and  sugar  for  the  afternoon  tea. 

What  these  people  keep  over  is  not  usually  a  very  large 
sum,  if  the  shop  is  not  large.  One  whom  I  visited  in  the 
East  End  of  London,  and  whose  statements  before  the  Lords' 
Committee  I  could  thus  verify  in  every  respect,  was  a  coat- 
maker.  He  had  good  medium  quality  work  for  a  well-dis- 
posed house,  with  constant  supply  of  goods.  He  employed 
thirty-eight  hands,  eighteen  men  and  twenty  women,  in  a 
well-lighted  shop  to  the  rear  of  his  dwelling  house.  In  fact, 
what  we  read  of  the  squalor  and  darkness  of  East  End 
London  is  more  atmospheric  than  architectural.  With 
miles  and  miles  of  streets  of  small  two-room,  two-story 
houses  (I  have  been  in  houses  with  one  room  on  each  of  the 


366  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

two  floors,  the  lower  floor  level  with  the  street,  and  whole 
streets  of  these  houses  exist),  air  and  light,  if  there  are  any 
about,  are  bj  no  means  the  rare  luxuries  which  they  are  in 
the  tenement  houses,  and  principally  the  rear  tenement 
houses,  of  New  York. 

The  *'  sweater  "  pays  his  hands  by  the  day,  except  the 
buttonholers,  who  are  paid  by  the  piece.  The  buttonholers 
furnish  their  own  silk  and  cord,  while  the  "sweater"  fur- 
nishes the  thread,  silk,  and  findings  for  the  rest  of  the  help. 
He  pays  the  following  rates  per  working  day,  from  8  to  8, 
with  an  hour  for  dinner  and  half  an  hour  for  tea.  First 
machinist,  85.  ($1.98) ;  second  machinist,  6s.  ($1.46) ;  third 
machinist,  45.  6d.  ($1.09) ;  improver,  35.  (73  cents) ;  first 
presser,  7s.  6d.  ($1.83) ;  second  presser,  45.  6d  ($1.09) ;  first 
baster,  6s.  ($1.46) ;  second  baster,  \s.  Qd.  ($1.09) ;  female 
hands,  2s.  6c?.  to  4s.  (61  to  97  cents) ;  the  latter  are  buttonhole 
makers,  and  are  paid  ^d.  or  1  cent  a  buttonhole.  Four  shil- 
lings is  an  average  of  net  earnings  of  good  buttonhole 
makers.* 

This  man  made  overcoats  for  which  he  got  3s.  apiece,  or 
73  cents.  If  the  man  has  a  fair  profit  left  over,  it  is  cer- 
tainly not  by  paying  poor  wages.  It  will  be  admitted  that 
they  are  high  in  consideration  of  what  we  usually  glean 
from  reports  about  East  End  of  London  labor.  I  could  not 
see  any  evidence  in  the  report  of  the  committee  that  compe- 

*  In  America  80  cents  is  paid  on  contract  for  a  hundred  cloak  button- 
holes. The  contractor  owns  the  machine,  furnishes  the  silk,  and  pays  the 
workmen,  of  course.  The  direct  pay  to  the  workman  is  not  more  than 
half  a  cent,  about  half  the  English  rate.  Yet  the  workman  earns  be- 
tween $10  and  $12.  Another  illustration,  from  personal  knowledge,  of  the 
subject  of  the  absurd  claims  advanced  and  "  the  facts  "  on  which  they  are 
based.  Even  in  the  sweater's  shop  the  English  get  higber  pay  by  the 
piece,  though  they  may  earn  less  money  than  their  American  brothers  and 
sisters 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  367 

tent  labor  can  be  obtained  at  a  reduction  from  the  above. 
Here,  again,  the  subdivision  and  intelligent  direction  of 
labor  pay  good  wages,  and  give  the  contractor  a  profit  at  so 
low  a  price  as  85.  for  an  overcoat.  I  bought  one  of  these 
overcoats,  paid  15s.  Sd — $3.86 — for  it  (the  wholesale  price), 
brought  it  home,  gave  it  to  a  young  friend  to  wear,  and 
after  a  winter's  usage  in  rough  weather,  I  find  it  in  excel- 
lent condition.  The  lining  is  a  good,  real  Italian  cloth  (not 
cotton  Italian),  and  the  cloth  of  good  text^ire  and  face. 
Now,  this  contractor  is  certainly  entitled  to  compensation 
for  his  work,  and  if  he  makes  a  profit  in  excess  of  what 
would  be  a  fair  allowance  for  the  work,  etc.,  which  he  puts 
in  himself,  it  is  only  by  the  larger  operations,  the  more 
constant  work  he  has  command  of,  and  the  greater  number 
of  hands  he  can  employ.  He  does  not  take  it  out  of  his 
working  people,  because  he  pays  day  rates.  He  even  pays 
top  prices  for  the  class  of  work  he  turns  out.  Yet  this 
man  is  a  "  sweater."  Mr.  Burnett,  the  Labor  Correspondent 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  says  of  this  class  :  "  They,  as  a  rule, 
have  good  regular  work,  fair  prices,  cheap  labor,  and  large 
profits."  Mr.  Burnett,  then  referring  directly  to  my  inform- 
ant, gives  substantially  the  rates  which  I  have  quoted  above 
from  a  statement  written  out  for  my  use.  If  this  is  "  sweat- 
ing," then  by  all  means  give  us  more  of  it.  The  horrors 
are  certainly  not  as  we  imagine  when  we  hear  reports  of  it. 
And  still  they  are  bad  enough,  in  the  general  way.  But 
they  are  due  to  scarcity  of  work,  whimsical  supply,  the 
capriciousness  of  the  men  who  give  out  the  work,  long 
hours  lost  in  waiting  and  then  a  rush  for  an  immediate  fill- 
ing out  of  lost  time — all  the  sad  results  of  labor  unorgan- 
ized and  at  the  mercy  of  anybody  who  wishes  to  impose 
on  it.  All  these  evils  are  excluded  from  the  factory  system. 
A  poor  Englishwoman  carried  on  for  some  years,  on  her 


368  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

ground  floor,  a  shop  where  she  employed  a  number  of  ma- 
chines and  workingwomen  making  trousers  and  commor 
shirts  for  a  wholesale  house.  She  told  me,  and  it  was  cor- 
roborated by  the  woman  who  occupied  the  floor  above,  that 
many  a  week  she  had  not  two  shillings  over  after  paying  her 
help. 

These  "sweaters,"  in  the  absence  of  any  other  and  perhaps 
better  organization,  are  the  best  protection  the  working-people 
in  these  industries  have.  They  stand  as  buffers  between  them 
and  the  employers.  They  resist  the  grinding-down  process 
successfully.  They  are  organized  to  an  extent,  and  cannot 
be  dispensed  with  by  the  wholesale  firms.  They  are  respon- 
sible, and  can  be  relied  upon  to  turn  out  satisfactory  work 
in  quantities  and  in  uniform  condition.  While  labor  in  the 
larger  "  sweater  "  shops  is  well  paid  for,  and  good  earnings 
and  bad  earnings  are  questions  of  time  worked  and  employ- 
ment found,  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  the  workers  who 
take  the  work  directly  from  the  firms  to  their  homes,  and 
are  not  ''  sweated,"  as  the  term  goes.  I  found  several  poor 
women  who  made  pantaloons  for  leading  English  wholesale 
firms.  They  got  5o?.  per  pair.  Two  sisters  worked  to- 
gether ;  one  did  the  machine  part,  for  which  she  got  2|d, 
and  the  other  the  finishing,  the  buttonholing,  and  the  sew- 
ing on  of  buttons  for  the  remaining  2^c?.  They  could  make 
eight  pair  a  day,  and  earn  about  40  cents  each.  But  they 
did  not  always  get  full  work,  frequently  not  more  than  four 
pair  a  day.  These  are  the  cheapest  grades.  For  the  same 
work  "  sweaters  "  testified  that  they  got  Q^d.,  or  13  cents, 
from  the  wholesale  houses.  This  shows  how  things  appear 
when  freed  from  the  conventional  coloring  which  sentiment 
has  laid  upon  them. 

That  the  factory  system  is  an  improvement  on  these  older 
forms  will  be  seen  later  on.     But  under  this  system,  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  369 

largely  by  the  aid  of  the  much  despised  and  decried  pauper- 
immigrant  labor,  an  enormous  exporting  industry  has  been 
built  up,  which  gives  employment  to  an  army  of  native 
workers  in  the  cloth  and  allied  industries.  Work  begets 
work.  One  employment  puts  another  employment  in 
motion.  Labor  consumes  the  product  of  other  people's 
labor,  and  so  prosperity  is  heightened  all  around,  though 
occasional  hard  rubbing  may  occur,  even  by  an  influx  "  of 
foreign  cheap  labor  "  and  of  the  downtrodden  of  other  and 
more  unfortunate  countries.  Liberty  attracts,  and  is  the 
spring  to  exertion,  progress,  and  prosperity. 
24 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Improved  Methods  and  Division  of  Labor. — Labor  in  Ready-made  Goods 
here  and  abroad. — Great  Export  Articles. — Foreign  Commerce 
restricted  by  the  Tariff. 

In  the  rates  of  wages  paid  bj  the  contractor  referred  to 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  we  have  a  fair  instance  of  the  shop 
rates  in  the  clothing  trade  in  general,  as  evidenced  by  the 
testimony  of  the  Labor  Correspondent  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
The  wages  are  high,  though  the  piece-rate  is  low.  In  Berlin 
the  cloak  trade  by  far  outweighs  in  importance  the  men's 
clothing  trade.  In  fact,  as  an  exporter  of  men's  clothing, 
Germany  plays  no  part  at  all.  The  day  rates  there  are  far 
below  the  English.  The  general  mode  of  living  is  lower, 
and,  knowing  by  long  training  how  to  make  a  little  go  a 
great  way,  the  workers  subsist  on  earnings  which  ruled  in 
England  a  hundred  years  ago. 

The  average  for  female  help  is  1|  marks ;  for  male  help, 
3  marks.  Not  that  certain  occupations  do  not  pay  higher 
wages,  but  a  great  portion  of  workers  also  earn  less  than  the 
above.  A  white-goods  factory  in  Berlin,  operating  with 
steam  power,  and  employing  about  1,000  hands,  had  a  weekly 
pay  roll  of  15,000  marks.  Now,  we  must  consider  that 
this  is  a  factory  with  all  the  modern  accessories  and  its 
complement  of  profit-eating,  stationary  expenses  and  capital 
charges.  The  works  must  be  kept  going,  the  hands  must 
be  kept  working,  or  the  fixed  charges,  etc.,  make  sad  havoc 
with   the   profits   and,    ultimately,  the   capital.     Hence,  it 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  371 

follows  that  an  ev^en  employment  for  the  best  help  obtain- 
able is  guaranteed  bj  this  modern  system. 

The  proportion  of  female  help  to  male  is  greater  than  in 
most  other  industries.  The  male  help  here  exceeds  largely 
in  its  earnings  the  general  rate  for  male  help.  Cutters  get 
as  high  as  40  marks,  and  average  about  30,  so  that  the 
average  of  female  wages  in  this  factory  would  scarcely 
exceed  12  marks  a  week.  Still,  it  did  not  strike  me  that 
thej^  turned  out  work  more  cheaply  than  we  do  here,  though 
ihe  earnings  here  are  higher. 

The  clothing  industry  in  America  is  mainly  conducted  on 
the  same  system  as  in  England.  Many  large  shops  are  run 
by  contractors  who  take  the  work  from  the  wholesale  firm 
to  their  own  premises,  and  return  it  completed  with  the 
label  sewed  on,  "  Custom-made,"  etc.  Small  shops  abound, 
too,  with  all  the  evils  connected  with  their  London  proto- 
types. The  wages  paid  both  men  and  women  do  not  so 
much  exceed  those  paid  at  the  best  English  shops  that  the 
contract  price  or  selling  price  would  thereby  be  materially 
enhanced.  The  goods  are  all  cut  on  the  premises  of  the 
wholesale  firm  and  delivered  to  the  outside  makers,  with  all 
the  belongings  cut  and  ready  for  the  workers. 

The  same  holds  good  in  the  cloak  trade,  except  that 
a  very  large  percentage  of  help  is  directly  employed  by 
the  wholesale  houses.  These  do  the  finest  work  and  earn 
tbe  highest  wages.  Excepting  the  finer  work,  where  a  dif- 
ference of  25  or  50  cents  or  a  dollar  in  the  making  up  of  a 
high-priced  garment  would  not  tell,  I  found  the  labor  cost 
did  not  differ  very  materially.  In  many  of  the  operations, 
as  they  pass  through  the  different  hands,  and  where  com- 
parisons could  be  made,  I  found  the  rates  below  London 
and  Berlin.  The  work  is  conducted  on  different  principles 
here,  largely  with  the  aid  of  labor-saving  machinery,  while 


372  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGE  WAGES. 

abroad  it  is  still  turned  out  bj  hand  processes  in  the  main, 
and  what  machinery  thej  use  is  decidedly  inferior  to  ours. 
More  goods  are  turned  out  in  a  given  time  by  one  operative 
here  than  by  three  or  four  in  the  old  countries.  Cutting  is 
done  here  largely  by  the  aid  of  machinery  now.  But  even 
where  cutting  is  done  by  the  cutting-knife,  as  in  white  cot- 
tons for  ladies'  underwear,  I  found  in  the  Berlin  factory 
mentioned  that  they  have  short  cutting  tables  on  which  they 
lay  the  cloth  and  consider  24  thicknesses  an  achievement. 
The  cutters,  as  I  observed,  set  on  several  times  until  they 
got  the  knife  through  the  layers,  and  finally  brought  out 
the  pieces  with  uneven  edges  and  hanging  threads.  Here 
at  that  time  they  put  72  thicknesses  on  the  table,  spread  the 
cloth  the  whole  length  of  the  piece,  some  45  yards  long  ; 
the  cutter  passes  his  knife  through  with  the  greatest  ease, 
and,  with  steady  strokes  through  the  whole  thickness,  he 
brings  out  the  work  smooth-edged.  The  same  factories 
were  then  getting  tables  made  with  grooves  for  the  cutting- 
knife  to  go  through,  by  which  to  cut  120  thicknesses  in  one 
cutting. 

I  will  not  go  into  further  details.  The  results  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  example :  For  the  making  of  a  jersey 
waist,  the  cheapest  quality,  given  out  all  cut  and  ready  for 
the  workers,  the  Berlin  house  paid  60  pfennigs,  or  about  15 
cents  apiece,  including  buttonholes,  etc.  Starvation  prices, 
people  would  cry,  if  15  cents  were  named  here  as  the  price 
paid  to  sewing  women  for  making  a  jersey  waist,  with  16 
buttonholes,  and  buttons  sewed  on.  Yes,  in  the  Berlin  way 
it  would  be  so.  But  a  large  producer  in  Philadelphia  turned 
them  out  in  this  quality  at  12  cents — or  10  cents,  taking  off 
the  cutting  expense,  as  ought  to  be,  in  comparing  with  the 
Berlin  labor  cost  The  work  is  subdivided,  and  paid  thus : 
Two  cents  for  running  up  the  seams,  4  cents  for  making  up, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  373 

2  to  3  cents  for  buttons  and  button-holes,  and  2  cents  for 
pressing.  The  buttonholes,  of  course,  are  machine-made 
(self-finishing),  and  calculated  at  the  rate  of  15  cents  a  hun- 
dred, though  they  cost  less  in  labor,  as  a  girl  turns  out 
easily  1,200  a  day.  The  buttons  are  sewed  on  by  machinery, 
too.  The  girls  average  $6  a  week,  while  in  Berlin,  at  the 
same  piece-price,  their  competitors  would  have  to  work  long 
over  hours  to  earn  $2  to  $2.50  a  week. 

Boots  and  Shoes. 

I  presume  it  is  now  conceded  that  boots  and  shoes  are 
turned  out  in  our  factories  at  less  cost  of  labor  than  in 
either  England,  Germany,  or  Austria.  Yet,  when  I  brought 
out  the  facts  in  a  report  to  the  State  Department  strenuous 
efforts  were  made  to  impugn  them.*  Our  methods  of  man- 
ufacturing are  as  different  as  the  results  are  startling. 
Ladies'  button  gaiters,  on  which  I  based  my  comparisons, 
cost,  in  the  combined  operations,  from  the  leather  to  the 
packing  in  boxes,  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  35  cents ;  at  Leicester, 
England,  64  cents;  at  Berlin,  57  cents;  at  Frankfort,  61 
cents ;  and  at  Vienna,  71  cents.     Yet  the  earnings  in  the 

*  For  further  details  see  Consular  Reports  No.  96,  August,  1888.  The 
report  treats  exhaustively  the  comparative  method  and  cost  of  labor,  etc., 
in  the  different  parts  of  work  in  the  different  countries.  I  stated  plainly 
what  the  boots  were  on  which  my  comparisons  were  based.  Yet  a  manu- 
facturer was  put  in  requisition  by  a  protection  paper  in  Boston  to  declare 
that  I  had  taken  'American  common  brogans  and  compared  them  with 
fine  goods  of  European  make.  By  such  tricks  and  devices  the  protection- 
ists would  only  injure  their  own  cause,  but  for  the  fact  that  the  general 
public  is  usually  unacquainted  with  the  points  really  at  issue.  Hence,  I 
think  it  is  not  more  than  a  part  of  the  duty  imposed  on  the  author  by 
his  mission,  to  cail  attention  to  the  nature  of  the  "  contradictions  "  which 
his  reports  have  received. 


374  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

different  places  stand   in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  cost  of 
production. 

We  are  certainly  justified  in  saying  in  regard  to  this 
industry  that  a  low  cost  of  production  and  a  high  rate  of 
earnings  go  hand  in  hand,  and  are  the  result  of  the  most 
intelligent  application  of  the  most  improved  methods  and 
labor-saving  inventions  in  the  economy  of  production. 
Applied  to  the  test  of  foreign  competition,  this  is  proved 
with  most  convincing  clearness  by  this  statement  of  com- 
parative cost  and  comparative  earnings : 

Cost  of  Labor.  Weekly  Wages.  Weekly  Wages. 

Male.  Female. 

CenU.  $                                        $ 

Lynn,  Mass 35  12.00  7.00 

Stafford,  England..  63i  5.76  to  6.24  2.83 

Leicester,  England. 64  6.72  to  8.40  3.60  to  4.32 

Berlin 67  4.80  to  7.20 

Frankfort 61  4.32  to  7.20  2.16  to  8.60 

Vienna 71  4.80  to  9.60  4.40 

This  is  not,  on  a  general  question,  based  on  averages,  but 
on  a  closely-defined  article.  An  American  sample,  pro- 
cured from  a  Lynn  factory,  formed  at  each  place  the  sub- 
ject of  a  personal  inquiry,  so  that  no  doubt  could  be  legiti- 
mately raised. 

The  differences  in  the  cost  of  production  and  in  the  rela- 
tive earnings  are  all  due  to  differences  in  the  labor  methods, 
the  results  of  the  habits  and  trade  conditions  of  the  peoples. 
They  all  employ  machinery.  The  goods  are  everywhere 
factory  products.  The  machinery  is  nearly  all  American  or 
of  American  origin,  with  foreign  improvement  or  adaptation. 
Yet  these  are  the  results.  The  application  differs  under 
the  varying  conditions  imposed  by  national  peculiarities  and 
trade  requirements.  The  facts  collected  on  this  particular 
branch,  if  fully  brought  out,  would  in  themselves  be  a  com- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  375 

plete  portraiture  of  the  stages  in  tbe  process  of  industrial 
evolution,  and  be  an  explanation  of  many  knotty  points  in 
the  labor  question.  The  plan  of  this  review  does  not  per- 
mit more  than  a  glance  at  these  facts. 

Briefly  outlined,  I  have  stated  the  positions  in  the  ready- 
made  industries  in  textiles  and  leather.  I  had  to  show  how 
other  nations  conduct  this  important  business  of  covering 
the  descendants  of  Adam  and  Eve  with  clothing.  1  feel  cer- 
tain that  henceforth  the  assurance  will  prevail  that,  what- 
ever the  tariff,  the  monopoly  cannot  be  wrested  from  us  by 
the  foreigner  and  his  "cheap  labor." 

The  Foreign  Trade  Aspect. 

The  industries  here  mentioned  have  become  large  manu- 
facturing industries  in  the  Old  World,  more  by  a  catering 
to  foreign  markets  than  in  response  to  an  urgent  home 
demand.  Tbe  foreign  demand  on  the  three  leading  coun- 
tries is  a  constantly  increasing  one. 

The  principal  exports,  for  1890,  from  Great  Britain,  and 
for  1888,  from  Germany  and  France,  show  the  following 
figures : 

In  Millions  of  Dollars. 
Great  Britain.        France.  Grennany. 

Wearing  apparel 25  18  26 

Boots  and  shoes,  etc ...  11.2  14  36* 

Haberdashery- 
Millinery 10.5 

Hats  and  caps 6.2  2.6  2 

Hosiery 8  10  24 

60.9  44.6  78 

Millinery  and  gloves  are  leading  export  articles  of  France. 
I  have  at  present  on  hand  no  data  to  specify  them.     It  is  a 

*  Including  gloves  and  other  fine  leather  goods. 


376  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES. 

safe  estimate  to  place  them  at  $20,000,000.  Adding  this, 
the  total  of  the  three  countries  would  be  over  $200,000,000, 
Our  own  contribution  to  the  foreign  trade  of  the  world 
is  slim,  so  slim  that  it  is  hardly  worth  mention.  But,  as 
we  have  to  hang  a  very  important  argument  on  this  tiny 
peg,  we  have  to  exhibit  the  figures  to  public  gaze,  patriotic 
feelings  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  They  were  for 
1890: 

Wearing  apparel,  cotton $278,000 

Wearing  apparel,  wool 424,000 

Boots  and  shoes 651,000 

Total $1,353,000 

This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  in  the  different  branches 
of  wearing  apparel  our  labor  is  as  cheap,  and  in  a  variety 
of  operations  it  can  be  shown  that  it  is  considerably  cheaper 
even  than  in  England,  Germany,  and  France.  In  ladies' 
underwear  the  work  is  not  alone  cheaper,  but  the  goods  are 
turned  out  in  better  style  than  in  Germany  or  England. 
French  lingerie,  being  chiefly  hand-sewn,  does  not  come 
within  this  category.  In  boots  and  shoes  our  greater  cheap- 
ness is  hardly  a  matter  of  contention.  Yet  how  small  a 
figure  do  we  cut  in  the  foreign  trade  ! 

The  most  remarkable  thing  about  the  figures  given  is  the 
fact  that  a  very  large  portion  of  these  exports  of  Europe 
goes  to  countries  from  which  we  are  so  anxious  to  exact 
special  favors  by  means  of  reciprocal  treaties  under  the 
McKinley  act  France  sends  nearly  one-half  of  her  exports 
of  apparel  and  of  boots  and  shoes  to  the  countries  to  the 
south  of  us.  Almost  all  of  these  exports  of  the  three 
countries  go  to  the  Americas  and  to  the  colonial  possessions 
of  England.  We  are  excluded  from  participation  in  a  pay- 
ing trade  by  the  primary  cause  of  high  tariff  duties.     What- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  377 

ever  other  impediments  may  exist  in  other  branches,  such 
as  plain  or  colored  cotton  goods,  in  these  this  cause  is  vital, 
and  it  is  hard!}'  worth  while  to  enumerate  others,  seeing 
that  all  efforts  are  useless  so  long  as  this  one  is  not 
removed.  There  can  be  no  possible  success  in  an  effort  to 
sell  articles  abroad,  of  which  wool  is  a  component  part,  so 
long  as  we  pa}'-  11  cents  a  pound  on  wool  which  costs  now 
in  the  London  market  8d,  or  16  cents  (the  latest  quotations 
of  Australian  wool  were  as  low  as  7fd),  and  of  which  it 
takes  at  the  least  3  pounds  to  make  a  pound  of  cloth. 

But,  waiving  this,  the  McKiuley  tariff  has  raised  the  com- 
monest supplies  and  ornaments  to  such  a  height,  that  the 
duties  levied  amount  to  as  much  as  the  value  of  the  labor 
contained  in  the  articles.  On  pearl  buttons  the  duties  are 
so  high  that  none  but  the  upper  ten  can  afford  to  make  the 
lavish  use  of  them  which  can  be  made  in  the  Old  World 
of  the  untaxed  article.  If  we  wish  to  compete,  we  have  to 
do  for  our  customers  as  well  as  our  competitors  do.  It 
would  not  help  much  to  use  the  "sour  grape"  plea  so  fre- 
quently made  use  of  by  protectionists,  that  china,  bone,  or 
cloth-covered  buttons  are  better  or  more  serviceable.  This 
article  of  common  use  has  to  pay  now,  in  the  lower  grades, 
as  high  as  200  to  300  per  cent.  A  certain  importation  of  a 
low  grade  of  pearl  buttons,  amounting  to  .some  $400,  and 
still  brought  in  under  the  old  rate  last  year  at  40  per  cent., 
would  have  had  to  pay  under  the  new  tariff  about  $1,500, 
or  well-nigh  400  per  cent.,  as  brought  to  my  attention  by 
the  importing  firm.  If  a  lady's  waist  or  a  boy's  shirt  had 
pearl  buttons,  and  they  generally  do  have  them— at  least  so 
far  as  foreign  markets  purchase  them,  the  duty  on  buttons 
would  balance  and  even  exceed  the  labor  cost.  In  white 
goods,  lingerie,  where  we  do  excellently,  France  exports 
$7,500,000  to  $8,000,000  worth,  and  Germany  a  very  con- 


378  'I'SE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

siderable  amount,  too,  la  this  class  of  goods,  Swiss  em- 
broideries and  laces,  used  for  ornament  and  trimming,  form 
a  greater  part  of  the  value  than  the  materials  of  which 
the  goods  are  composed.  Our  cheap  labor  and  our  excellent 
cottons  will  avail  us  little  when  we  have  to  pay  60  per  cent, 
duty  on  embroideries  and  from  200  to  300  per  cent,  on  pearl 
buttons.  I  have  found  that  in  men's  shirts  we  do  as  well 
as  in  Berlin  ;  so  in  linen  collars  and  cuffs,  as  far  as  the  labor 
expense  goes.  But  who  would  venture  on  an  export  busi- 
ness with  linen  duties  of  35  per  cent,  in  the  fine  and  60  in 
the  medium  grades,  when  competing  countries  have  all 
these  articles  and  materials  duty  free  ? 

Protectionism  overreaching  itself  becomes  self-destructiva 
Tax  the  material  and  you  limit  production. 

"We  may  be  told  that  in  boots  and  shoes  this  does  not 
now  apply,  as  we  export  leather.  But  it  does  apply,  and 
very  strongly,  too.  A  great  many  findings,  kinds  of  leather, 
and  materials  used  in  the  foreign  boot  and  shoe  trade  are 
not  those  used  or  made  in  the  United  States.  Whatever  of 
foreign  make  enters  into  the  boot  or  shoe  has  to  pay  high 
duties,  and,  if  used  to  any  extent,  would  soon  outweigh 
the  advantages  of  the  cheaper  labor  cost  demonstrated 
above.  In  hot  countries  lighter  goods  are  worn.  To  these 
countries  our  longing  eyes  are  directed  when  we  speak  of 
our  trade  possibilities  under  the  famous  reciprocity  treaties. 
But  we  neither  should  have  the  materials,  nor  could  we 
supply  them  at  proper  prices,  so  as  to  build  a  suitable 
shoe  for  hot  climates.  The  people  of  these  countries  are 
fastidious,  and  those  who  are  not  wear  some  country 
made  foot-gear,  or  buy  no  shoes — they  go  barefooted.  So 
it  is  idle  to  speak  of  an  expansion  of  trade  in  these 
lines  under  the  treaties  which  are  to  open  a  new  era  in 
trade. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WAGES.  379 

Reciprocity  Treaties. 

In  Part  II.,  Chapter  VI.,  I  gave  a  statement  of  Eoglisli 
exports  in  colored  cotton  goods  to  the  different  American 
States  with  which  we  are  negotiating  these  treaties,  and  our 
own  insignificant  exports,  hardly  more  than  12|-  per  cent. 
of  England's  trade.  But  in  all  species  of  cotton  fabrics 
England's  South  American  trade  is  about  $40,000,000  and 
ours  about  $4,000,000 — about  10  per  cent.  The  Brazilian 
markets  took  $12,500,000  from  England  and  $620,000  from 
lis.  A  bare  5  per  cent.  I  stated  the  principal  reasons,  and 
need  not  dwell  on  them  further.  That  they  are  sufficient  to 
prevent  any  considerable  expansion  till  we  have  adapted 
ourselves  more  to  foreign  trade  requirements  is  seen  from 
the  facts  of  commerce. 

The  treaty  with  Brazdl,  the  reduction  of  the  Brazilian 
tariff  in  our  favor  by  25  per  cent.,  was  to  do  wonders  for 
our  cotton  manufacturers.*  Yet  what  are  the  results? 
The  treaty  has  been  long  enough  in  existence  to  show  what 
advantages  can  be  realized  under  it.  They  are  nil.  There 
was  even  a  decrease  reported  in  cotton  goods  for  the  first 
six  months  in  which  the  treaty  was  in  force,  as  compared 
with  the  same  months  of  the  previous  year.  A  considerable 
increase  is  reported  to  have  taken  place  in  the  export  of 
locomotives,  steam  engines,  and  cars  for  tramwaj'S  and  rail- 
ways. But  the  shipments  from  England  in  all  kinds  of  iron 
and  manufactures   of  iron   up  to  December  1,  1891,  were 

*  The  simplest  economic  facts  are  ignored  in  these  speculative  expecta- 
tions. The  Brazilian  tarifif  is  on  the  weight.  The  English  cloth  weigh- 
ing by  20  per  cent,  lighter  to  the  square  yard  than  American  cloth  alone 
would  counterbalance  any  possible  advantage  America  might  derive 
from  one  held  in  this  remarkable  treaty,  not  shared  by  England  under 
"  the  most  favored  nation  "  clause. 


380  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

£1,750,000,  against  £1,410,000  in  the  same  months  of  the 
preceding  year,  the  more  perfected  forms  leading.  This 
shows  that  the  enlargement  of  our  own  trade  in  these 
articles  was  not  caused  by  diplomacy,  but  by  a  naturally 
increased  demand  for  them.  The  reductions  amount  to 
little,  and  by  no  means  equal  the  cost  increase  which  our 
high-priced  iron,  causes  in  the  cost  of  construction  as  com- 
pared with  English  cost.  But  even  when  the  differences 
•were  far  greater  in  the  cost  of  iron  and  steel  than  they  are 
at  present,  these  goods  formed  the  chief  articles  of  export  in 
manufactured  goods  to  the  American  republics.  As  far 
back  as  1883,  when  the  Spanish- American  treaty  was  under 
discussion,  I  compiled  a  table  of  exports,  in  which  the 
United  States  figured  as  sending  $10,600,000,  Great  Britain 
$21,000,000,  Germany  $1,000,000,  and  France  $1,800,000  of 
iron  products  to  these  States.  In  1890  our  exports  in 
manufactures  wherein  iron  is  the  material  of  chief  value  to 
these  countries  were  $15,500,000,  constituting  nearly  one- 
half  of  all  our  exports  of  manufactures  of  the  same  class. 

It  is  a  matter  of  first  importance  in  the  consideration  of 
our  problem  that  only  those  articles  are  exportable  in 
which  the  material  forms  the  smallest  part  of  the  value,  and 
labor  the  largest  It  is  a  common  saying  among  manu- 
facturers that  this  ability  to  export  increases  with  the  ratio 
of  labor  to  the  cost  of  the  material.  Labor  must  exceed 
40  per  cent,  in  the  cost  of  production  before  their  manu- 
factures become  exportable.  The  articles  of  which  our 
exports  are  chiefly  composed  prove  this  as  fully  correct.  A 
great  proportion  of  the  English  exports  consist  of  railroad 
iron,  castings,  and  supplies  in  crude  forms.  We  cannot 
export  these ;  our  exports  are  entirely  of  the  other  category. 
We  may  safely  deduce  from  this  that  we  have  in  the  metal 
and   iron  industries   the   cheapest   labor   and   the   dearest 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  381 

materials  of  any  country  in  the  world,  and  that  treaties  of 
commerce,  such  as  can  be  framed  under  the  act,  will  not  be 
very  effective  in  changing  conditions  so  long  as  this  great 
obstacle  of  highly-taxed  materials  is  not  removed. 

Great  promises  were  made  to  agriculturists  of  the  advan- 
tages that  would  accrue  to  them  from  the  treaties.  These 
are  as  illusory  as  those  given  to  our  manufacturers.  These 
countries  are  all  pastoral  and  agricultural.  The  chief 
imports  are  manufactured  goods,  which  they  get  from 
Europe  in  exchange  for  their  products.  Climatic  and  other 
causes  force  the  countries  under  the  tropics  to  import  many 
products  of  temperate  zones,  wheat  flour,  salt  provisions, 
etc.  But  nearly  all  of  this  trade  had  been  safely  in  our 
hands  long  before  any  treaty  was  thought  necessary  for 
finding  a  market  for  the  barrel  of  flour  and  the  barrel  of 
pork,  so  sadly  neglected  in  the  McKinley  bill  until  Mr. 
Blaine  made  his  dramatic  effort  in  their  behalf.  All  the 
salt  pork,  lard,  and  other  hog  products  entering  these 
domains  came  from  the  United  States.  All  the  wheat  flour 
came  from  America.  Austria  shipped  some  to  Brazil,  but 
not  enough  to  make  much  of  a  ripple.  On  the  other  hand, 
Argentinia  is  beginning  to  dislodge  us  in  Brazil,  as  being 
nearer  to  her  borders  and  ports.  "With  these  exceptions  we 
held  supreme  control  of  the  field  before  the  treaties.  The 
same  with  Cuba,  which  enters  the  charmed  circle  now.  A 
great  market  for  our  flour  is  to  be  opened,  we  are  told. 
But  I  cannot  well  see  that  what  we  did  not  already  hold 
of  this  trade  can  be  very  large.  The  principal  competitor 
of  the  United  States  in  the  flour  trade  of  Cuba  and  Porto 
Eico,  up  to  now,  was  Spain.  Under  the  advantages  granted 
to  us  we  shall  not  any  longer  have  Spain  deprive  us  of 
our  rights  to  supply  the  Spanish  Antilles  entire.  Now 
the  Spanish  exports  of   wheat  flour  in  1880  amounted  to 


382  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

18,000,000  pesetas,  or  about  $2,500,000.  This  gradually 
dwindled  down  to  5,700,000  pesetas,  or  about  $1,100,000, 
in  1888.  I  do  not  know  the  figures  of  the  last  year,  but 
the  amount,  the  one  of  1880,  or  1888  (take  the  highest  of 
the  decade),  will  not  make  our  agriculturists  very  prosper- 
ous. 

It  is  an  idle  fooling  of  the  people.  A  mere  examination 
of  the  trade  lists,  a  comparison  of  the  imports  of  Central 
and  South  America  from  all  countries  with  our  exports  to 
them  in  these  commodities,  will  show  that  not  one  of  tiae 
promises  that  have  been  made  the  chief  article  of  glory  in 
the  Eepublican  programme  can  be  fulfilled.  It  is  a  trick 
from  beginning  to  end.  Our  agricultural  classes  would  have 
fared  far  better  had  the  McKinley  bill  never  been  enacted. 
To  the  south  of  us,  English  capital  is  rearing  the  most 
formidable  rivalry  which  they  have  yet  had  to  encounter. 
The  great  financial  breakdown  of  a  j^ear  ago  has  not  at  all 
interfered  with  the  material  progress  which  the  Argentine 
Republic  has  been  making.  Her  wheat  and  her  live  stock 
will  in  the  near  future  become  most  important  factors  in 
the  competition  for  European  markets,  and  the  increased 
competition  will  be  most  keenly  felt  by  the  American 
farmer. 


CHAPTER  XYL 

The  Tariff  in  its  Relation  to  the  Industrial  Problem. — Summary. — Com- 
parative Labor  Cost  in  Principal  Industries  in  America  and  England. 
— Treatment  of  the  Labor  Question  by  Economists  in  Entire  Ignor- 
ance of  Facts. — Resulting  Chaos  and  Strife. — Wages  paid  by  the 
Piece. — High  Wages  and  Reduced  Hours  resulting  from  Improve- 
ment in  Economy  of  Production. — Conclusions. 

Were  our  tariff  one  for  revenue  with  incidental  protec- 
tion, such  a  one  as  we  enjoyed  before  the  war,  of  moderate 
ad  valorem  duties,  or  of  specific  duties  on  a  basis  of  free  raw 
materials  for  industrial  purposes,  such  as  Germany's  tariff 
is,  a  reform  or  change  of  tiie  tariff  would  not  meet  with 
many  technical  diSiculties.  Whatever  the  impelling  causes 
for  making  it  so,  our  tariff  has  become  so  cumbersome  and 
intricate  that  any  one  object  of  taxation  directly  affects  a 
variety  of  other  objects,  and  a  change  in  one  would  alter 
the  relations  of  a  great  many  connecting  interests. 

This  artificial  system  has  finally  culminated  in  the  Mc- 
Kinley  act.  Here  we  find  all  disguises  thrown  aside,  and 
meet  with  the  bold  declaration  that  the  object  of  tariff 
taxation  is  not  the  raising  of  revenue  for  the  support  of 
the  Government,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  reduction  of 
revenue,  and  ultimately  the  extinction  of  revenue,  by  the 
exclusion  of  imports  by  duties  to  be  raised  to  a  height 
sufficient  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end.  The  rates 
were  left  to  the  manufacturers  and  other  interested  parties 
to  prescribe.  We  have  seen  how  signally  these  extreme 
rates  have  failed  to  do  what  they  promised.  We  have 
seen  that  the  reasons  for  the  failure  are  organic,  and  that 


384  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

the  grossest  perversion  of  the  taxing  power  cannot  succeed 
in  supplying  what  is  internally  wanting! 

But,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  inflating  causes  remain.  The 
war  tariflf  and  its  late  extension  has  so  impregnated  all 
values  and  so  deeply  affects  industrial  pursuits  that  it  is 
not  an  economic  political  question,  but,  more  than  anything 
else,  an  industrial  question,  closely  interwoven  with  all  the 
most  intimate  relations  of  labor  and  capital.  On  this  ac- 
count it  is  clear  that  greater  attention  has  to  be  given  to  the 
industrial  side  of  the  tariff  than  to  any  other.  We  are  all 
agreed,  except  those  who  believe,  or  profess  to  believe,  that 
the  duty  is  paid  by  the  foreign  shipper,  that  the  tariff  is  a 
burden.  The  consumer,  apart  from  the  industrial  producer, 
has  been  taught  to  bear  the  burden  as  a  patriotic  duty,  so 
as  to  give  the  producers  of  manufactured  articles  a  chance  to 
exist  in  competing  with  the  products  of  foreign  cheap  labor. 
This,  therefore,  has  become  the  salient  point.  No  data 
existed  for  a  verification  of  either  an  affirmative  or  a  nega- 
tive opinion,  except  general  statistical  compilations.  It  was 
necessary  to  establish  a  basis  upon  which  so  important  a 
work  could  be  undertaken,  a  reform  of  the  tariff  without 
injury  to  the  producing  classes.  A  comparison  of  the  cost 
of  production  by  the  piece  in  the  principal  industries,  the 
means  and  methods  employed  in  production,  the  economic 
conditions  which  underlie  and  determine  production  in  this 
country  and  in  competing  countries,  would  alone  give  a 
satisfactory  basis. 

We  all  remember  that  in  all  campaigns  in  which  the  tariff 
formed  an  issue,  the  difference  in  the  rate  of  pay  by  the  day 
was  presented  as  the  impregnable  wall  before  which  all 
efforts  would  have  to  cease.  A  reduction  of  the  tariff 
would  imply  nothing  less  than  the  tearing  down  of  the 
homes  and  firesides  of  hundreds   of  thousands,  even  mil- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH    WAGES.  386 

lions,  of  artisans  and  laboring  men  and  women.  Here  in 
America  daj  wages  were  shown  to  be  200  per  cent,  above 
those  ruling  on  the  Continent,  and  50  to  100  per  cent,  above 
those  ruling  in  England.  Exaggerated  as  the  statements 
were  in  most  instances,  the  actual  differences  were  high 
enough  to  impress  many  a  doubting  mind.  The  reverse  of 
the  medal  was  withheld  from  view  ;  viz.,  that  the  countries 
paying  the  lowest  wages  worked  the  longest  hours  and  pro- 
duced the  dearest  goods.  Positive  proof  was  wanting  to 
establish  the  relative  parts,  known  only  from  general  trade 
facts.  To  make  any  headway,  it  was  necessary  to  take  the 
question  out  of  the  hazy  atmosphere  which  had  surrounded 
it,  and  to  give  it  positive  shape  and  form  under  the  bright 
glare  of  facts.  To  do  this  effectively,  all  the  leading  indus- 
tries had  to  be  investigated  and  reviewed,  and  their  com- 
parative status  and  cost  of  production  given. 

If  only  a  few  industries  had  been  treated  by  way  of 
example,  the  supposition  would  have  been  justified  that 
equally  important  industries  would  not  be  able  to  stand  the 
ordeal  of  tariff  reduction. 

The   Cost  of  Production. 

Labor  is  the  chief  element  of  cost  in  the  product 
Whether  it  be  the  unassisted  hand  labor  of  domestic 
industry,  the  factory  work  of  Continental  Europe,  with  its 
inferior  organization  and  machinery,  or  the  more  highly 
developed  industry  of  England,  brought  to  an  all-pervading 
system  of  highest  perfection  in  America,  labor  is  the  chief 
element  of  cost.  In  the  former  processes  the  labor  is  all 
expressed  in  the  pay  to  the  worker  ;  in  the  latter  the  cost 
of  machinery,  of  buildings,  of  superintendence  and  manage- 
ment, go  into  the  cost  as  additionals.  They  are  expressed 
either  as  direct  labor  items,  as  "  general  labor  "  expense,  or. 
25 


386  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

as  interest  charges  in  the  general  expense  charge  on  the 
product.  The  value  of  buildings  and  machinery  expresses 
the  labor  put  into  their  construction,  and  the  annual  charge 
for  interest  and  depreciation  is  not  less  legitimately  a  labor 
charge  because  the  outlay  was  made  before  direct  produc- 
tion could  take  place.  It  is  labor  stored  up  in  buildings, 
machinery,  fixtures,  etc. 

In  making  comparisons  I  have  taken  this  into  full  con- 
sideration. I  must  confess  that  I  was  more  than  surprised 
to  find  that,  in  all  the  leading  industries,  the  general  views 
expressed  in  my  book,  "The  Industrial  Situation  " (pub- 
lished 1885),  were  verified  to  the  fullest  extent  by  these 
specific  comparisons.  Whatever  detractors  may  have  said, 
not  one  of  them  was  able  to  show  that  the  figures  were 
incorrect  Other  inquiries  undertaken  since  the  first  pub- 
lication of  my  reports  have  given  fullest  corroboration.  I 
can,  therefore,  well  challenge  contradiction  when  I  say  that 
the  figures  prove  beyond  peradventure  that  barring  slight 
exceptions,  our  labor  is  as  cheap  in  all  leading  articles, 
which  supply  the  necessaries  of  life,  the  clothing,  imple- 
ments, etc.,  of  our  people,  as  the  labor  of  any  other  nation. 
The  fact  must  be  reassuring  to  those  who  think  that  we 
cannot  return  to  such  a  tariff  as  we  had  before  the  war  with- 
out injury  to  the  working  people  engaged  in  those  trades, 
or  without  necessitating  a  reduction  of  their  present  money 
wages.  I  purposely  say  money  wages,  because  we  have 
frequently  told  the  workingman  that  a  reduction  of  his 
wages  under  a  lower  tariff  would  be  equalized  by  a  reduced 
cost  of  living.  The  cost  of  living  will,  undoubtedly,  be 
reduced  by  tariff  reform,  but  the  rate  of  wages  need  not 
be  reduced  on  account  of  the  labor  cost  of  the  product. 
Proof  has  been  ample.  It  will  be  more  assuring  when  we 
present  it  in  the  close  phalanx  of  parallel  columns  in  this 
summing  up  of  the  results  of  our  inquiry. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 


387 


COST  OP  LABOR  IN  THE  LEADING  ARTICLES  OF  MANU- 
FACTURINa  INDUSTRIES  REVIEWED  IN  THE  PRECED- 
ING CHAPTERS. 

Other 
America.  England,  countries. 


Brown  Stoneware  : 

Cents. 

Centg.           Cents. 

Butter  Pots — j-gallon, 

per  100 

71.3 

109 

1      " 

100 

158 

8      " 

162 

293 

3      " 

245 

450 

5      " 

553 

730 

6      " 

666 

1,200 

Flint  Glass  : 

Bottles  -16-ounce,  per 

100    

88 

91 

2      " 

42 

58 

Decanters,  1  quart 

375 

450 

Pitchers,  1  quart 

400 

476 

Goblets 

130 

95 
125 

86* 

127 

Tumblers 

80 

Finger  bowls 

146 

Bituminous  coal,  gross  ton 

79t79to89t(Oer.) 

" 

(Penn.,  1890) 

64 

" 

(Connellsv.) 

33 

(Durham)    61 

Coke-making              " 

" 

32 

24 

Iron  ore                      " 

(Lake  Sup.) 

119 

(Staffordshire)  146 

Cheaper  ores              " 

(Cumberl'd) 

19 

(Cleveland)    30 

Pig  iron                      " 

(East'n  Pa.) 

125    (Middleeboro')  73  to  96 

"                           " 

(Pittsburgh) 

158 

Bessemer  steel  rails    " 

(East'n  Pa.) 

250  to  304 

(Middlesboro')  307 

Cotton  yarn,  No.  20,  per  100  pounds. . . 

45 

60 

No.  40 

'          " 

98 

100 

Weaving  print  cloths      ' 

'     yards 

40 

48  to  61 

4-4  Sheeting 

'         "    .  ... 

45 

60 

Worsted  yarn,  2-40          ' 

pounds... 

1,153 

950 

6-4  Worsted  Cloth  : 

Weaving                    per  yard 

24.4 

10.8 

Dyeing  and  finishing 

"        

4.1 

4.r 

6-4  Woolen  Dress  Goods  : 

Yam        pound 

4.8 

4 

Weaving       "     

9.6 
2.6 
8.9 

7.4 

Finishing     "     

4 

6-4  cheviot  ymi,  pound. 

4 

Wfaving 

7 
4  to   5.25 

4.4 

Carpets,  yard 

4.6 

Silk  throwing,  pound... 

32to37i 

40 

Weaving  wages,  yard. . . 

7 

8.9§  6(Ger.) 

Total,  yard 

18 

13.98  15.25  (Lyons.) 

Ladies'  boots,  pair 

35 

64       57toCl(Ger.) 

71  (Austria). 

*  General  for  U.  S.  Census,  1880. 
J  Westphalia  and  Rhenish  Prussia. 


+  North  Staffordshire. 
§  Hand-looms,  Ziirich. 


388  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

I  leave  out  here  Trenton  white  earthenware,  as  laboring 
under  exceptionally  disadvantageous  conditions,  backward 
ness  and  poor  management,  according  to  the  manufacturers 
own  contention.  On  the  other  hand,  I  leave  out  the  kinds 
manufactured  on  the  old  plan  in  Europe  and  by  the  most 
advanced  methods  in  America,  as  in  nail,  rivet,  and  chain 
making. 

I  take  only  such  manufactures  as  are  conducted  on  the 
same  methods,  and  there  we  find  only  in  the  weaving 
of  worsteds  and  in  some  classes  of  woolens  that  the  labor 
cost  in  America  is  above  the  English  cost.  But  even  here, 
as  explained  previously,  owing  to  the  different  keeping  of 
accounts  and  the  lower  general  cost  in  American  methods, 
the  difference  in  the  final  cost  is  much  smaller  than  given 
in  the  above  labor  differences,  and  practically  disappears  in 
a  number  of  instances.  The  most  gratifying  part  is  that 
even  in  silks  we  have  reduced  the  cost  differences  to  so  small 
a  point  that  here  also  the  period  of  tutelage  may  be  de- 
clared at  an  end.  In  all  other  branches  named  in  the  above 
exhibit — and  they  comprise  the  most  important  branches  of 
national  activity — our  labor  is  as  cheap  as  that  of  the 
cheapest  producers  of  Europe,  and  in  a  great  number  of 
them  cheaper. 

While  we  have  been  anxiously  debating  the  best  means 
of  providing  protection  for  our  home  industries,  while  the 
relative  heights  of  protective  tariffs  were  the  only  debatable 
ground  for  parties  to  divide  on,  the  economic  forces,  fully 
dwelt  upon  in  these  pages,  have  actually  accomplished  what 
the  most  sanguine  would  have  set  down  as  one  of  the  great 
aims  to  be  striven  for.  America  has  practically  worked  out 
industrial  independence,  and  can  fairly  claim  release  from 
the  interfering  barriers  of  oppressive  laws.  She  can  take 
up  the  contest  with  other  nations,  and  only  wants  free  ma- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  389 

teria]s  to  take  a  commanding  position  in  foreign  markets. 
We  have  shown  that,  under  natural  conditions,  she  can  do 
this  very  well,  but  never  under  the  artificial  conditions  of 
the  McKinley  tariff  and  hybrid  reciprocity  treaties,  with 
their  necessarily  barren  results  and  implied  end,  the  re- 
imposition  of  taxes  on  her  own  people  by  executive  order  in 
retaliation,  if  nations  should  remain  obdurate,  and  not  find 
this  reciprocity  as  advantageous  as  Mr.  Blaine  would  have 
them  believe.  In  trade,  as  in  private  life,  the  Golden  Eule 
works  best. 

Our  industries,  not  less  than  our  commerce,  depend  for 
their  healthful  growth  upon  an  exchange  of  commodities 
and  products  with  other  nations.  From  our  position,  as 
illustrated,  it  can  easily  be  seen  that,  if  the  ideal  of  our 
present  school  of  protectionists  could  be  reached  by  cutting 
ourselves  off  from  all  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  and 
actual  prohibition  of  imports  could  be  secured,  barbariza- 
tion  would  follow.  The  first  to  suffer  and  decline  would  be 
our  manufacturing  industries.  Nor  does  it  require  complete 
exclusion ;  barbarization  will  be  proportionate  to  the  ratio 
of  exclusion  dealt  out. 

Our  industries  are  supplemented  in  a  sense  by  those  of 
Europe.  What  their  higher  cultivation  of  the  arts  enables 
Europeans  to  produce  better  and  finer  than  we  are  capable 
of,  does  not  all  interfere  with  our  work,  but  forces  our  man- 
ufacturers to  put  their  best  energies  forward  to  attain,  by 
improved  means  of  production,  results  which  shall  gradually 
conquer  the  markets  of  America.  It  is  only  by  this  stimu- 
lation that  we  have  reached  the  position  of  the  present  day. 
Great  as  the  progress  has  been,  we  still  are  wanting  very 
much  in  the  essentials ;  how  much,  is  seen  from  the  impor- 
tations constantly  going  on,  no  matter  how  high  we  place 
the  tariff. 


S90  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

People  ■will  keep  buying  what  they  want,  so  long  as 
they  are  led  by  their  tastes  and  possess  the  means  for 
gratifying  them. 

Economic  and  Sociological    Deductions. 

Gratifying  as  the  results  of  the  inquiry,  as  indexed  in 
these  tables,  must  be  to  national  pride  from  an  industrial 
point  of  view,  the  lessons  to  be  deduced  from  the  humani- 
tarian point  are  of  greater  importance  yet  The  great  social 
questions  will  be  brought  nearer  a  solution,  and  the  labor 
question  will  lose  its  asperity,  when  we  know  that  higher 
remuneration,  better  living,  shorter  hours,  and  lighter  toil 
are  the  results  of  the  most  improved  methods  which  have 
fructified  labor  so  that  it  scatters  abundance  now  in  every 
direction.  It  barely  needs  asserting  that  no  effort  of  the 
social  reformer  could  dispel  poverty  were  the  products 
wanting  with  which  to  feed  and  clothe  the  masses,  and  for 
which  the  commercial  mind,  ever  on  the  scent  for  a  profit, 
is  always  perfecting  the  machinery  of  distribution. 

That  the  higher  earnings  of  our  working  classes  are  due 
to  the  freer  operation  of  all  the  causes  and  influences  re- 
ferred to  in  the  course  of  this  discussion,  and  not  possibly 
to  an  artificial  cause  like  the  tariff,  is  apparent  from  the 
inquiry  into  the  cost  of  production.  The  fact  that  labor 
cost,  generally  speaking,  is  on  a  par,  while  the  earnings  are 
considerably  (from  50  to  200  per  cent.)  above  the  earnings 
of  the  working  classes  of  Europe,  leaves  room  for  but  one 
interpretation — the  greater  productiveness  of  our  labor  and 
the  consequent  greater  well-being  of  our  working  classes. 
Labor  owes  nothing  to  paternalism  in  legislation ;  it  owes 
everything  to  the  removal  of  the  trammels  put  upon  free 
exertion  by  impertinent  and  obstructive  laws. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH   WA0E8.  391 

Conclusions. 

An  elucidation  of  all  the  economic  problems  touched 
upon  would  lead  beyond  the  range  set  up  for  this  treatise. 
It  was  intended  to  give  the  proof  that  the  causes  which  are 
at  work  in  building  up  a  nation's  prosperity  are  different 
from  those  usually  assumed.  To  do  this  effectively  I  had 
to  leave  the  trodden  path  of  argument  and  confine  my- 
self strictly  to  the  statement  of  the  facts  of  commercial  and 
industrial  life — to  use  a  vulgar  phrase,  "the  knock-down 
argument,"  which  speaks  for  itself.  Still,  it  would  not  be 
doing  justice  to  the  subject  to  leave  off  without  pointing 
out  some  glaring  defects  in  the  old  views,  which  have  led 
to  much  mistaken  and  ill-advised  legislation.  Our  labor 
theories  are  still  based  on  the  wage  fund  theory,  which  has 
caused  and  still  is  causing  much  misery  and  strife.  It  has 
fortified  itself  so  firmly  in  the  thoughts  of  the  age,  that  the 
London  Times  but  expressed  the  views  of  a  large  portion  of 
the  possessing  classes  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  when  it 
said  in  an  editorial  not  very  long  ago :  "  The  clear  profits 
of  business  is  the  fund  on  which  the  employer  and  the  work- 
man must  depend  for  their  respective  shares.  If  the  work- 
man has  more,  the  employer  must  have  so  much  less,  and 
there  seems  good  evidence  that  of  late  years  the  workman 
has  been  receiving  more  than  his  former  recognized  share." 
Hence  the  converse :  the  smaller  the  sum  paid  in  wages 
the  greater  are  the  profits. 

It  is  evident  that,  so  long  as  this  is  accepted  as  axiomatic, 
labor  and  capital  will  be  constantly  fighting  a  relentless 
war  for  the  bigger  slice.  The  recognition  of  the  truth  that 
labor  and  capital  both  derive  their  remuneration  from  the 
product,  and  that  an  increase  in  the  productiveness  of  labor 
affords  both  labor  and  capital  increased  remuneration,  gives 


392  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

at  once  a  different  aspect  to  the  question.  The  old  view 
resulted  in  material  and  intellectual  repression  of  the  work- 
ing classes,  and  the  new  view  must  result  in  their  material 
and  intellectual  advancement. 

Once  recognize  the  fact  that,  after  all,  man  is  the  great 
wealth-producing  machine,  the  source  of  all  wealth,  then  all 
our  efforts  will  be  directed  to  the  elevation  of  this  machine 
to  the  highest  potentiality. 

What  is  labor?  Physical  and  muscular  exertion.  It 
becomes  economically  valuable  by  intellectual  guidance. 
The  greater  the  intellectual  force  and  physical  power  intro- 
duced by  the  laborer,  co-operating  with  equally  well-devel- 
oped auxiliary  and  surrounding  conditions,  the  greater 
must  be  the  sum  of  the  products  created.  But  to  this  we 
must  add  the  further  and  most  important  fact,  that  labor, 
be  it  ever  so  intelligently  conducted,  will  always  remain 
physical  exertion.  This  is  to  say  that  labor  is  an  expend- 
iture of  vital  force.  Unless  this  is  replaced  by  wholesome 
nutrition  (air,  light,  sanitation,  and  even  cheerful  surround- 
ings, are  part  of  wholesome  nutrition),  the  frame  will  work 
itself  out,  and  labor  will  become  economically  of  smaller 
and  smaller  value. 

Another  fact  of  vital  importance  is  the  time  during  which 
the  buman  frame  is  capable  of  its  best  exertion.  In  going 
over  the  contentions,  not  of  fifty  years  ago,  but  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  we  find  the  assertion,  by  the  defenders  of  long  hours 
in  factories,  that  the  last  hour  is  the  one  that  gives  the 
profit.  This  is  not  borne  out  by  the  facts.  It  is  found  by  all 
who  employ  machinery  that  the  work  of  the  last  hour  is  the 
least  satisfactory,  and  the  work  of  the  first  hours  the  best 
and  most  copious.  I  frequently  found  that  after  working 
extra  hours  many  of  my  help  came  late  the  next  morning 
or  stayed  away  a  day ;  others  showed  a  lack  of  spirits  and 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  393 

less  efficiency.  The  spirit  was  wanting,  the  frame  was  tired. 
I  gave  it  up  after  repeated  experiments,  and  reaped  better 
results  with  regular  hours  and  premiums  for  any  quantity 
beyond  the  daily  averages  of  output.  A  little  encourage- 
ment and  consideration  for  help  does  wonders.  We  are  all 
human  and  of  one  kind.  But  to  Guildenstern  the  flute  is  a 
stick  with  holes  and  stops,  to  Hamlet  an  instrument  out  of 
which  to  draw  harmonious  sounds. 

Close  attention  to  speeded  machinery  is  a  much  greater 
nervous  strain  than  was  required  by  the  humdrum  of  old 
routine  and  hand  work.  I  have  the  statement  of  one  of  the 
largest  dye  works  in  Zurich  (mostly  hand  work,  of  course), 
to  the  same  effect.  The  works  employ  some  450  hands. 
They  formerly  worked  thirteen  hours,  with  two  hours  for 
meals.  The  senior  partner  had  hard  work  to  obtain  the  con- 
sent of  the  other  members  of  the  firm  to  a  reduction  of  the 
hours  to  twelve  a  day,  or  ten  working  hours.  They  figured 
out  to  him  that  it  would  entail  a  loss  of  15,000/  a  year. 
The  reduction  of  hours  was  introduced,  more  as  a  trial  than 
a  determined  policy.  But  after  the  first  year  it  was  found 
that  not  only  was  no  loss  sustained,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  results  were  more  satisfactory  than  those  of  the  pre- 
ceding year.  The  facts  are  not  so  astonishing  as  men's 
obstinate  resistance  to  their  application.  The  concrete 
thrusts  itself  under  everybody's  eyes.  In  the  abstract  we 
continue  the  time-worn  argument. 

In  England  we  hear  the  constant  iteration  that  they  can- 
not compete  with  Germany  on  account  of  the  sixty-six  hours 
and  more  of  the  German  working  week  and  the  fifty-four 
hours  of  the  English  week.  The  establishment  by  inter- 
national agreement  of  a  uniform  working  day  is  mooted  by 
influential  voices  in  trade  and  manufacture,  and  discussed 
by  statesmen  in  congresses  and  by  cabinet  ministers.     To 


394  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

them  it  is  tlie  same  whether  labor  is  well  conditioned  or 
half  starved ;  whether  it  has  the  old,  slow,  hand-tool  method 
or  is  supplied  with  all  the  improved  machinery  and  outfit 
which  modem  science  has  put  at  its  disposal.  A  day's 
labor  is  a  day's  labor.  The  cheaper  you  get  it  and  the  more 
hours  you  can  crowd  into  the  day,  the  better  off  you  are. 
Learned  works  are  written  on  the  subject,  and  still  the  facts 
point  so  strongly  in  the  opposite  direction  that  it  is  difficult 
to  understand  that  there  should  be  a  difference  of  opinion. 
The  opposition  of  Germany  and  of  Austria  to  the  reduction 
of  their  hours  to  the  English  standard  of  fifty-four  hours, 
is  based  on  substantial  grounds.  The  length  of  the  work- 
ing day  is  an  index  of  the  productive  ability  of  a  nation. 
The  application  of  the  most  improved  methods  to  produc- 
tion (implying  a  better  paid  and  better  conditioned  laborer) 
makes  a  shortening  of  hours  practicable  and  even  neces- 
sary, because  of  both  the  physiological  fact  stated  above 
and  the  economic  necessity.  Production  must  go  hand  in 
hand  with  consumption.  If,  by  the  too  rapid  introduction 
of  labor-saving  devices,  production  runs  ahead  of  demand,  it 
must  adapt  itself  to  the  altered  condition  by  shortening 
the  working  time.  But  this  is  a  self-adjusting  process. 
The  legislature  can  do  no  more  than  enact  what  the  genius 
of  the  nation  has  wrought  out  in  advance.  The  legislative 
enactment  is  the  caption  of  a  chapter  in  the  economic  his- 
tory of  the  nation.  But  it  follows  from  all  this,  that 
what  is  one  man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison.  The 
means,  methods,  and  general  conditions  under  which  labor 
exerts  itself  in  the  different  countries  also  determine  the 
hours  of  work.  It  would,  indeed,  be  a  dear  price  to  pay  for 
all  the  great  advance  by  the  parallel  destruction  of  all  the  dear 
old  landmarks,  if  the  profits  were  only  on  the  side  of  capital ; 
if  labor  in  England,  and  still  more  in  the  United  States, 


TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES.  395 

should  toil  the  same  long  hours  and  at  the  same  low  rates 
as  in  the  more  backward  countries.  But  the  great  advances 
made  in  the  economy  of  production  in  the  highest  developed 
industrial  states  have  led  directly  to  the  short  working  day, 
to  the  material,  intellectual,  and  political  advancement  and 
emancipation  of  the  laborer,  and  hence  are  the  cheering  and 
elevating  signs  of  a  great  and  bright  future. 

That  this  is  not  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  based  on  all 
the  collected  facts  of  industrial  life,  we  can  show  by  an  in- 
dustry now  conducted  on  the  same  principle  by  all  nations, 
who  have  gone  beyond  the  barbaric  stage ;  that  is  to  say, 
all  nations  west  of  the  Vistula  and  the  Carpathian  moun- 
tains. 

The  Cotton  Industry. 

The  average  for  weekly  earnings  from  two  factories  shows 
the  extremely  low  figures  of  3^  florins  ($1.54)  for  one  situ- 
ated in  Eastern  Bohemia,  and  of  5  florins  ($2.20)  for  one  in 
Western  Bohemia.  This  is  26  cents  and  36  cents,  respec- 
tively, as  the  average  day  earnings  of  men  and  women.  The 
working  day  averages  12|^  hours  net.  In  Switzerland  I 
found  11  hours,  with  3f.  (58  cents)  to  3f.  50c.  (68  cents)  for 
men  and  2f.  (39  cents)  to  2f.  50c.  (48  cents)  for  women.  In 
Germany  the  hours  are  not  fixed  by  law,  but  are  matter  of 
agreement  between  workers  and  employers.  In  textile  fac- 
tories they  are  assumed  to  be  about  11  to  12  working  hours. 
I  accept  the  former,  with  2  to  3  marks  (48  to  73  cents)  for 
men  and  1^  to  2  marks  (36  to  48  cents)  for  women,  varying 
in  the  different  parts  of  the  country.*     In  Rouen,  at  Mr. 

*  The  raunicipal  autliorities  of  Berlin  collected  in  July,  1881,  from  the 
trade  guilds  and  from  the  different  benefit  societies  of  workingmen  the 
status  of  labor  and  wages.  The  information  is  interesting,  as  it  gives 
the  working  time  ruling  in  the  different  trades  in  connection  with  the 


896  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

Pouyer-Quertier's  mill,  I  found  the'hours  to  be  from  5  A.M. 
to  7.30  P.M.,  with  2^  hours  for  meals — 12  working  hours. 

weekly  wages.    The  Berlin  returns  allow  us  to  judge  of  the  conditions  in 

other  parts  of  the  empire.  I  will  insert  here  the  statement,  as  published, 
of  working  hours  and  average  wages  of  some  50  trades.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  statements  in  the  different  parts  of  this  book  in  regard  to  Ger- 
man working  time  and  wages  are  fully  sustained  by  this  list  : 

Average 
Maucs.  Daily     Weekly  Wages 

Houra.  in  Marks. 

Shoemakers 13  to  17  12  to  15 

Baaters  and  adjusters  (frequently  all  day  Sundays) 13  to  14  18 

Tailors  (half  a  day  Sundays) 13  12 

Ladies'  cloak  tailors  (frequent  Sunday  work) 11  18 

Tanners  (no  Sunday  work) 12  to  13  18 

Barbers  (regular  Sunday  work,  with  board  and  lodging) .                 14  9 

Wigmakers  (regular  Sunday  time  of  10  hours) 14  19 

Ma8on-'(atpiece-work,  21  marks;  frequent  Sunday  work)       12  to  13  19i 

Roofers 12  22 

Slaterr^  (over  hours  highly  paid) 12  80 

Stonecutti-rs 10  24 

Hand  and  factory  workers  (frequent  Sunday  labor ;  18 

marks  at  piece-work)     12  13^ 

Sculptors  and  terra  cotta  workers 9  to  10  18  to  27 

Painters  (in  winter  12  M.)  11  18 

Pot  t.rs 12  to  13  15  to  19 

Beitmakers  and  leather  workers 12  15 

Coppersmitiis  (piece-work,  2r  marks) 11  to  12  18 

Needle  makers 10  lo  12  16tol7 

Fileciitters  11  18 

Tiii8miths(thehalf  of  Sunday) 12  to  13  18 

Locksmiths  13  10  to  15 

Blacksmiths 13  18 

Machine  and  ironworkers Hi  to  12  12  to  15 

.    Surgical  instruments 10  18 

Machinists  and  opticians  (piece-work,  18  marks) 12  15 

Soapinakera 12  15 

Silk  ribbon  weavers  (half  a  day  Sunday) .                 10  12  to  15 

Weavers  14  12 

Cloth  shearers 11  to  12  13* 

Passementorie 10  I6i 

Roiiemakers 6  to    7  15 

Saddlers  and  harness  makers 10  to  12  12  to  21 

Upholsterers 12  15  to  21 

Cabinet-makers 13  15  to  20 

Coopers    13  15  to  18 

Brushrankers 12  to  13  18 

Coinbmakers 12  to  13  14 

Vaniishers 13  18 

Gilders    12  16 

Bakers  (with  board  and  lodging) unlimited  10 

Confectioners  (with  board  and  lodging) unlimited  11  to  12 

Butchers  (Sunday  work  ;  with  board  and  lodging) 15  to  17  6  to  10 

Brewers  (t  tsuuday  time  ;  free  lodging)    15  22 

Females. 

Silk  weavers 14  8  to    9 

Spoolers 14  7 

Hosiery  hands 13  to  IS  7J 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  897 

Men's  earnings  were  3f.  to  3.50f.  (57  to  68  cents),  and 
women's  earnings,  2f.  (39  cents).  England's  working  time 
is  an  average  of  9  hours  a  day,  and  the  earnings  of  men 
would  average  about  4:s.^  and  of  women  from  2^  to  3s. 

That  cheap  labor  and  long  hours  do  not  produce  cheap 
goods  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  all  these  nations  defend 
themselves  against  the  results  of  England's  high  pay  and 
short  hours  by  the  familiar  expedient  of  a  high  protective 
tariff.  Now,  if  this  "  cheap  labor,"  at  the  rate  of  pay  it  re- 
ceives now,  were  to  procure  the  same  conveniences  for  which 
an  English  man  and  woman  lay  out  their  wages  at  free- 
trade  prices  (that  is  to  say,  obtain  more  commodities  for  the 
same  unit  of  money),  it  would  have  to  work  the  following 
numbers  of  hours  against  England's  standard  of  9  hours.* 
The  wages  of  men  and  women  are  included  in  the  table : 

Average  Day  Present  Necessary 

Wages.  Hours.  Hours. 

Cents. 

Germany 48  to  60  11  153  to  19J 

Switzerland 54  11  18 

France 54  12  19i 

Western  Bohemia 38  12^  80 

Eastern  Bohemia 26  12^  41i 

England 86                 9  9 

I  have  here  taken  for  comparison  wages  of  adult,  efficient 
workers  only.  The  work  is  all  carried  on  by  the  coun- 
tries here  represented  on  the  same  basis,  nominally  the 
same,  at  least  The  differences  in  the  employment  of  ma- 
chinery, etc.,  have  been  the  subject-matter  of  these  chapters, 
and  are  supposed  to  be  familiar  to  the  reader.  Yet  it  is 
all  machine  work,  driven  by  steam  power,  and  conducted 
in  factories  under  the  best  intellectual  management  which 

*  Five  days  of  10  hours  and  half  a  day  on  Saturday. 


398  TEE  ECONOMY  OF  HIOH  WAGES. 

the  countries  afford.  But  how  world-wide  the  differences  in 
the  results  1 

K  we  extend  this  test  to  the  workers  in  house  industries 
and  compare  their  earnings,  working  time,  and  labor  results 
with  the  most  advanced  countries,  then  the  results  are  start- 
ling indeed.  The  poor  house-weavers  of  Eastern  Bohemia 
(in  the  Giant  Mountains  district)  do  not  earn  more  than  2.20 
florins  (92  cents)  in  the  week,  according  to  an  inquiry 
undertaken  in  1884.  All  members  of  the  household  co-op- 
erate. The  children  do  the  spooling.  The  wife  relieves 
the  husband  at  the  loom.  The  work  goes  on  for  16  or  18 
hours  a  day.  The  intellectual  standard  of  these  poor  people 
is  about  the  lowest  in  all  Europe.  Intellectually  dwarfed, 
physically  starved.  They  would  have  to  work  96  hours  to 
accomplish  what  England  accomplishes  in  9  hours,  and 
America  in  a  smaller  number  yet 

But  when  we  bring  the  old  methods  into  comparison  with 
the  results  of  self-acting  machinery  in  pinmaking  or  screw- 
making,  or  even  in  the  hand-fed  machinery  work  of  nail- 
making,  we  see  at  its  brightest  the  great  lesson  that  all  the 
benefits  which  labor  has  realized  are  the  results  of  its 
greater  productiveness  and  of  the  forces  which  have  co-oper- 
ated to  bring  about  this  greater  productiveness. 

The  nailmaker  in  the  Black  Country  of  England,  earning 
25.  in  14  hours'  work,  would  have  to  work  126  hours  to  earn 
the  $4.50  or  $5  of  a  Pittsburgh  nailer— the  result  of  10 
hours'  work.  And  still  at  his  25.  a  day  he  does  not  turn 
out  the  work  as  cheaply  by  a  great  deal  as  this  remarkable 
combination  of  intellectual  and  mechanical  force  does  under 
the  American  labor  system. 

Such  conditions  as  we  have  depicted  here,  the  substratum 
upon  which  labor  rests  and  acts  in  the  countries  farthest 
backward,  has  been  the  state  under  which  labor  existed  a 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  399 

hundred  years  ago  in  the  more  forward  countries.  The 
average  earnings  of  an  expert  hand  weaver  were  IO5.  a 
week  *  (40  cents  a  day) ;  the  quartern  loaf  (4  pounds)  was 
lie?,  to  a  shilling  (22  to  24  cents).  Working  hours  unlim- 
ited. Hold  this  against  an  average  of  4s.  a  day  for  expert 
male  weavers,  and  bread  at  4:^d.  the  4-pound  loaf,  and  you 
have  in  a  concise  form  the  results  which  the  introduction  of 
the  most  improved  methods  in  the  economy  of  production 
has  wrought  in  the  condition  of  the  working  classes.  That 
nothing  at  all  equal  to  the  present  elevated  standard  of  life 
of  American  and  English  working  people  could  have  been 
realized  without  the  improvements  and  scientific  methods  in 
the  economy  of  production  is  self-evident.  Without  an 
increased  product  no  increase  of  consumables,  hence  nothing 
to  divide.  But  it  is  equally  evident  that  the  material 
causes  of  well-being  could  not  have  been  set  in  motion, 
or  become  operative  factors  without  the  assistance  of  the 
ethical  forces  which  have  created  a  new  basis  for  an  entire 
reconstruction  of  social  conditions,  as  seen  from  our  examples. 
Improvement  has  always  taken  its  rise  in  the  West.  The 
oppression  and  depression  of  the  working  classes  increase 
in  an   easterly  direction.     A  hopeless  acceptance  of  their 


*  The  following  quotations  from  Sir  Frederic  Eden  represent  the  daily 
earnings  in  1787.  Outdoor  laborers,  Is. ;  threshers,  Is. ;  laborers  near 
towns,  Is.  Ad.  Manufacturing  wool  :  scribblers,  Is.  Zd.;  shearers.  Is.  Qd.; 
weavers,  Is.  &d.  to  2s. ;  women  spinners,  Id.  (spinning  much  reduced 
through  introduction  of  machinery — formerly,  Is.  to  Is.  2d.  reduced  to 
5d. ;  women  in  good  health  can  only  earn  2s.  M.  per  week,  some  with 
family  not  more  than  Is.).  Coventry,  ribbon  weavers,  8s.  to  12s.  a  week, 
children  winders,  2s.  to  3s.  Kendall,  woolen  weavers,  10s.  a  week ; 
calico  weavers,  9s. 

The  introduction  of  machinery,  begun  in  about  1780,  was  strenuously 
opposed  by  the  workpeople.  The  result,  however,  was  the  same  as  illus- 
trated elsewhere,  a  rise  in  the  earnings  of  the  working  classes  so  engaged. 


400  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

poor,  miserable  lot,  as  of  the  inevitable,  characterizes  these 
laborers.  Thej  would  hardly  have  an  understanding  of  the 
pitying  sympathy  which  one  cannot  help  feeling  for  them. 
Yet  the  starting  point  for  improvement  cannot  be  gained 
where  hope  does  not  light  the  way.  As  seen  in  our  ex- 
amples, the  application  of  improved  methods  does  not  help 
much  where  this  stimulus  is  absent. 

In  Berlin,  even,  I  found  this  narrow-minded  begrudging 
of  a  workingman's  higher  earnings.  In  piece  work  they 
reduce  the  pay  of  the  greater  output  which  brings  higher 
earnings  than  the  general  rate.  Hence  the  workingmen 
take  good  care  not  to  produce  more  than  is  necessary  to 
give  that  rate.  The  manufacturers  returned  to  the  day  rate, 
as  I  was  told  by  working  people  in  Berlin,  because  the 
masters  found  that  the  men  made  too  much  money  under 
the  piece-rate  system  introduced  in  the  flush  times  after  the 
war.  This  characterizes  the  matter  very  well,  and  the 
economic  results  make  it  apparent  enough  that  the  mechan- 
ical improvements  and  scientific  achievements  of  the  age> 
open  and  free  to  all,  are  inoperative  if  they  are  not  met  by 
a  population  under  responsive  conditions.  Given  the  start- 
ing point  of  free  development  and  free  play  of  forces,  every- 
thing follows  as  by  self-acting  process.  The  endeavor  of 
man  to  improve  his  condition  is  powerful  enough  to  carry 
society,  meaning  essentially  the  working  classes,  to  that 
stage  of  well-being  which  is  the  dream  of  our  age,  and  the 
striving  for  which  has  given  to  the  world  so  many  finely- 
elaborated  systems  of  social  reform.  But  it  has  been  shown 
that  freedom  from  restraint  and  security  under  the  law  are 
all  the  guarantees  required  for  securing  the  conditions 
under  which  the  self-acting  process  of  constant  improvement 
takes  place,  and  under  which  man  can  always  be  expected 
to  exercise  his  fullest  energy. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  401 

The  Cause   of  Progress  and  Prosperity. 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  prosperity.  We  can  reach  it 
only  by  hard  and  arduous  toiling  on  the  long  and  winding 
road  of  progress.  The  forces  leading  forward  have  been 
most  powerful  in  the  second  half  of  our  century,  and  the 
world  has  received  the  most  astonishing  results  of  the  con- 
centration of  the  highest  intellectual  forces  on  production, 
including  the  distributing  branch.  We  have  shown  through- 
out this  discussion  what  debt  we  owe  to  the  scientist  who 
quietly  and  unostentatiously  has  led  to  all  these  triumphs 
in  the  struggle  of  man  with  nature  without  even  knowing 
to  what  beneficent  results  his  discoveries  would  lead,  in  the 
clothing  and  the  feeding  of  the  wretched  and  the  poor,  the 
90  per  cent,  of  the  nations.  If  abundance  reigns  where 
poverty  and  a  mild  species  of  starvation  have  been  signifying 
the  conditions,  we  owe  it  to  him  and  to  the  leading  minds 
engaged  in  commercial  and  industrial  pursuits.  But  a  tear- 
ing down  of  the  landmarks,  an  entire  upheaval  of  society 
was  required  to  make  the  advent  of  this  new  era  of  prog- 
ress and  prosperity  possible.  The  keenest  minds  are  now 
engaged  in  the  sciences,  in  production  and  distribution. 
They  leave  in  contemptuous  disregard  the  employments 
which  in  former  times  were  alone  considered  proper  for  the 
most  gifted  as  well  as  for  the  select  of  birth  and  fortune. 
Politics  and  war  have  lost  their  attraction,  and  the  love  of 
gain  and  of  distinction  in  the  fields  of  industry  and  com- 
merce is  the  master  passion  of  the  age.  Whether  for  praise 
or  for  blame,  the  fact  exists.  The  keenest  minds  are  all 
engaged  in  the  work  of  production  and  distribution,  and 
thus,  though  only  intent  on  gain  and  personal  distinction, 
they  lead  on  in  the  evolution  of  industrial  progress  to  that 
reign  of  plenty  which  is  the  necessary  condition  of  the  great 
26 


402  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAOES. 

social  improvement  so  ardently  looked  for  by  the  lovers  of 
mankind,  and  never  attainable  by  any  other  method  than 
the  chase  after  "filthy  lucre."  The  builder  and  projector  of 
a  railroad,  the  inventor  of  a  new  machine,  the  discoverer 
of  a  new  process  by  which  nature  is  made  to  yield  her 
jealously  guarded  treasures,  the  calculating  and  designing 
merchant  and  manufacturer — they  all  aim  at  money-making 
and  furthering  their  own  private  ends,  even  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  neighbors.  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  this 
is  their  aim.  In  the  fierce  competition  of  commercial  life, 
tbe  destruction  of  the  neighbor  is  only  paraphrased  by  the 
milder  term  of  "  trying  to  undersell  him  "  by  the  hundred 
and  one  different  methods  in  which  push,  energy,  con- 
solidation, etc.,  stand  only  in  a  general  way  as  expressions 
of  means  by  which  the  end  is  reached.  A  new  method  or 
an  invention  destroys  even  more  completely  than  all  the 
combinations  of  commercial  energy.  And  still  the  scientist 
who  plans  them,  who  evolves  them  from  his  retort  or  his 
pencil,  is  as  guileless  as  a  new-born  babe,  and  would  be 
horror-struck  at  the  heart-burning  among  men,  the  havoc 
and  desolation  among  brick  and  mortar,  machinery  and 
ledger  accounts,  which  his  inventions  and  discoveries  create. 
Yet,  whatever  the  impulse  and  the  aim,  the  result  is  the 
same:  society  reaps  the  benefit  and,  as  has  been  shown 
with  sufiicient  clearness,  I  trust,  these  greedy,  self-seeking 
individuals  are  all  working  for  one  end — to  reduce  the 
cost  of  bread  a  penny  or  so,  of  clothing  and  the  rest  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  in  like  manner.  And  all  engaged  in 
the  struggle  for  reducing  the  cost  of  living,  be  the  motives 
never  so  selfish,  are  the  real  benefactors  of  their  race.  In 
no  country  has  this  concentration  of  the  greatest  mental 
energy  on  the  subject  of  production — vulgarly  speaking, 
"money-making" — been  so  exhaustive  and  complete  as  in 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  403 

America.  The  reason  is  obvious.  In  no  other  country 
have  the  prejudices  which  hamper  enterprise  been  so  com- 
pletely extirpated.  A  hundred  years  ago,  or  even  more 
recently,  the  gentleman  "  who  did  not  soil  his  hands  by 
work  or  gainful  occupations  "  was  very  fairly  distributed  over 
the  Republic.  He  has  disappeared.  In  England,  shop- 
keeping  England,  he  rules  society,  and  his  baneful  influence 
prostrates  energy  and  drives  enterprising  young  men,  scions 
of  the  nobility  as  well  as  of  the  middle  classes,  to  these 
shores,  where  they  can  work  in  the  field,  the  mill,  the  mine, 
as  the  slaves  of  the  poor  and  the  makers  of  their  own 
fortunes.  I  need  not  speak  of  the  Continent,  where  social 
prejudices  increase  in  the  ratio  of  the  decrease  of  personal 
liberty.  So  it  is,  after  all,  the  seed  which  was  sown  a  little 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  in  America  and  shortly 
thereafter  in  the  nursery  garden  of  great  ideas,  Paris,  which 
bears  all  this  luscious  fruit  Much  rank  vegetation  may 
be  in  the  undergrowth.  But  what  if  there  be  ?  We  shall 
learn  by  and  by  to  get  rid  of  noxious  weeds  and  keep  the 
wholesome  species.  Without  political  freedom  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  trammels  which  held  down  the  old  social 
structure,  no  progress  is  possible.  The  measure  of  prog- 
ress and  prosperity  is  the  most  complete  where  all  the  old 
restraints  have  been  most  radically  removed  and  thrown 
into  history's  old  lumber-yard.  The  middle  ages  of  meta- 
physical abstraction  and  hazy  speculation  are  only  begin- 
ning to  make  room  for  the  new  era  of  practical  creation. 
The  old  notions  of  social  distinction  are  only  now  giving 
way  to  the  much  higher  ideal  and  type  of  man,  the  maker 
of  his  own  fortune.  The  great  fortunes  are  frequently 
connected  in  America  with  the  grimy  hand  and  the  sweating 
brow  of  the  original  canal  digger  and  the  mill-hand  who 
owns  them.     If  every  drummer  boy  in  France  carried  the 


404  THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES. 

marshal's  baton  in  his  knapsack,  every  laborer  in  America 
has  a  million  in  prospect.  The  one  possibility  made  Napo- 
leon's army  invincible;  the  other  gives  America  the  indus- 
trial leadership  of  the  v^orld.  Hope  leads  the  imagination 
and  makes  man  dare  in  the  face  of  all  difficulties.  While 
under  limitation  of  his  freedom  he  would  be  but  an  indolent 
tool,  he  becomes  an  eager  creator  under  conditions  made 
possible  by  a  Constitution  which  makes  everybody  free  to 
become  the  creator  of  his  own  destiny. 

With  the  right  of  suffrage  in  his  hands,  the  American 
workingman  is  the  state.  He  cannot  blame  his  rulers,  the 
tools  of  his  own  creation,  for  whatever  impediments  may 
prevent  his  reaping  a  fuller  share  of  the  fruit  of  his  labor. 
If  he  permits  the  taxing  power  to  be  exercised  in  the  interest 
of  capital,  under  the  false  pretense  of  protection  to  him,  while 
piece  wages  are  less  than  in  Europe,  he  has  no  one  to  blame  but 
himself.  If  he  permits  taxes  to  be  squandered  on  bounties 
and  other  unjustifiable  expenditures,  no  scapegoat  can  be  inter- 
posed on  whom  he  may  lay  the  responsibility.  He  chooses 
the  law-makers,  who  would  not  dare  to  vote  for  any  measure 
that  is  not  supposed  popular  with  the  "  masses."  In  fact,  it 
is  not  unjust  to  say  that  the  legislators  are  too  eager  to 
suppress  their  own  better  judgment  and  follow  the  popu- 
lar drift  Education  and  enlightenment  are  the  necessary 
adjuncts  of  universal  suffrage,  because  they  make  political 
power  the  source  of  real  blessings  in  the  workingman's  hand. 
All  danger  from  misuse  disappears  with  the  insight  into  the 
connection  of  causes  and  effects.  The  fruits  of  civilization 
are  safely  lodged  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  able  to 
appreciate  their  advantages.  They  will  see  to  it  that  the 
wealth  accumulating  from  the  annual  production  shall  not 
all  be  turned  into  the  hands  of  a  few  men  favored  by  pro- 
tection, but  that  the  means  shall  be  found  to  supply  the 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  HIGH  WAGES.  405 

educational  facilities  which  will  eventually  make  labor 
independent,  so  that  the  hand  that  works  and  the  brain 
which  designs  and  guides  shall  become  members  of  the 
same  body.  This  is  the  natural  tendency  of  economic 
forces  not  interfered  with  by  law.  Capital's  share  in  the 
product  becomes  smaller  and  smaller  with  the  increase  of 
capital.  Capital  without  labor  to  employ  it  would  sink 
away  and  disappear.  As  capital  grows,  more  labor  must  be 
employed.  Capital  competes  with  capital,  and  the  share  of 
profit  becomes  smaller,  the  demand  for  labor  increasing  con- 
stantly. Wages,  however,  are  not  affected  by  the  shrinkage 
of  profits. 

It  is  evident  that  no  gulf  separates  the  laborer  from  the 
Vllima  Thule,  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  work, 
that  he  cannot  bridge  by  his  own  intellectual  advance- 
ment 


ADDENDA  TO  PART  II.,   CHAPTER  YL, 
RELATING  TO  COTTON   HOSIERY. 

The  fine  laid  plans  of  the  subtlest  of  minds  are  often  frus- 
trated by  the  fact  that  the  minds  of  all  men  are  wiser  than 
the  mind  of  any  one  man  or  of  a  combination  of  men. 
Applied  to  commerce  it  follows,  from  this,  that  no  sooner 
is  a  law  enacted  obstructive  to  trade  than  the  minds  inter- 
ested go  to  work  to  circumvent  it  This  is  the  easier  with 
American  tariff  laws  on  account  of  the  general  ignorance  of 
the  lawmakers  of  the  commonest  industrial  and  trade  facts. 
The  very  artifices  and  the  complicated  character  of  the  law, 
designed  to  hinder  importations,  lead  to  it.  Cotton  hosiery 
shows  the  full  bearing  of  this.  The  chief  aim  was  here,  as 
in  most  of  the  tariff  increases,  directed  against  the  low-priced 
goods.     The  duty  is  graded  according  to  value,  as  follows  : 

1.  On  value  of  not  above  60  cents  per  dozen  pair,  20  cents  per  dozen 
pair  and  20  per  cent,  ad  'valorem.  2.  Above  60  cents  and  not  above  $2.00 
per  dozen  pair,  50  cents  per  dozen  and  30  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  3. 
Above  $2.00  and  not  above  $4.00  per  dozen  pair,  75  cents  per  dozen  pair 
and  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  4.  Above  $4.00  per  dozen  pair,  $1.00  per 
dozen  pair  and  40  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

The  action  was  not  so  much  directed  against  the  range  of 
prices  covered  by  class  I.  Few  goods  were  ever  imported 
costing  "not  above"  60  cents  the  dozen.  Most  of  the  im- 
ports to  be  prevented  by  the  new  law  would  fall  under  the 
second  class.  Large  importations  of  men's  half  hose  would 
come  in  at  65  to  72  cents.  On  this  price  range,  the  duties 
would  now  be  at  65  cents  cost :  50  cents  per  dozen  and  30 


ADDENDA.  407 

per  cent,  equal  69|  cents  or  107  per  cent;  at  75  cents  cost: 
equal  66|  cents  or  92^  per  cent.  If  the  same  goods  would 
fall  under  classification  I.,  they  would  pay  20  cents  per 
dozen  and  20  per  cent  ad  valorem,  or  something  under  50 
per  cent.  In  order  to  be  able  to  reduce  the  duty  to  the 
lower  basis,  the  Chemnitz  manufacturers  were  helped  by 
the  law  itself  in  part,  which  makes  packing  charges,  car- 
tons, etc,  dutiable,  the  same  as  the  goods,  by  virtue  of 
tlie  administrative  McKinley  act.  By  shipping  the  goods 
without  boxes,  having  the  cartons  made  here ;  by  sending 
them  in  the  gray  and  having  them  dyed  in  America,  when- 
ever practicable;  by  economical  changes  in  Chemnitz,  re- 
duction in  the  dyeing  cost,  which  is  done  by  outside  dyers, 
who  made  a  very  high  rate  of  profit  heretofore  (the  work 
is  distributed,  a  house-industry  chiefly),  etc.,  the  foreign 
manufacturers  were  enabled  to  so  far  reduce  the  cost  that 
they  can  bring  in  goods  which  otherwise  would  go  into  class 
II.,  under  the  lower  range  of  duties,  and  so  frustrate  the 
part  of  the  law  intended  for  their  exclusion.  Very  vexa- 
tious this.  Short  of  absolute  prohibition  no  device  seems 
to  be  workable  when  it  comes  to  the  test. 


INDEX. 


Acreage  and  product,  150-152. 

Adulteration  in  wool  fabrics,  308, 
840. 

Advanced  position  of  labor,  causes 
of,  392-405. 

Advantages,  natural,  and  science, 
139-144. 

Agriculture  in  America  cannot  be 
protected,  why,  6. 

Agriculture,  comparative  results  of, 
122-125,  138-147. 

Agriculture  depressed  by  protec- 
tion, 7. 

Agriculture,  lessons  from  progress- 
ing. 152. 

Agriculture,  results  in,  and  institu- 
tions, 111-133. 

Agriculture  and  soil,  110. 

Aluminum,  price  reductions  illus- 
trated in,  87. 

American  and  Berlin  methods,  370- 
373. 

American  and  English  rates  of 
wages,  199,  209,  211,  214-218,226, 
227,  237-240,  276,  280,  315,  348, 
374. 

American  scientific  methods,  86- 
103,  136-138. 

American  system,  differences  in, 
56-66,  85,  398. 

Arms  and  ammunition,  229-231. 


Ancient  art  objects,  76-80. 
Art  and  industries,  71-80. 
Automatic  appliances  and  machin 
ery,  94-107,  224-232. 

Backwardness  and  low  wages,  64-66. 
Boots  and   shoes,  comparative  cost 
of  labor  in,  373,  374. 

Calico  printing  compared,  347-249. 

Chemistry  in  Europe  and  in  Amer- 
ica, 88. 

Cloaks,  Berlin   manufacturing  sys- 
tem, 360-362. 

Coal    mining,   cost  of  labor  com- 
pared in,  24,  25,  209-211. 

Coking,  cost  of  labor  compared  in, 
215. 

Conclusions,  891-405. 

Consumable    quantities    compared, 
163-166. 

Consumption  and  production,  60- 
64. 

Color  and  taste,  248, 

Cost  of  labor  and  wages,  31-34,  215. 

Cotton,  Egyptian,  14. 

"       manufacturing,  233-242. 
"       manufacturing,    time    and 
wages,  ratio  to  output  in,  397. 

Cotton  raising,  comparative  results 
in,  147. 


410 


INDEX. 


Cotton  spinning,  36,  237. 
Cotton  velvets,  duties  on,  250-253. 
"  "       not  feasible  to  manu- 

facture here,  254,  255. 
Cultivation  and  ownership,  132,  133. 
Cut  glass  industry  in  America,  202. 

Disingenuous    methods,    334,   338, 

350,  373. 
Distribution  and  production,  60. 
Division   of    labor    in    ready-made 

clothing,  etc.,  368-374. 
Dress  goods,  cost  of  labor  compared 

in,  330. 
Dyeing,  cost  of,  277,  316,  331,  336. 

Errors  and  misconceptions  regarding 

wages,  63-66. 
Economy  and  science,  92,  93. 
Eden,  Frederic,  conditions  described 

by,  155,  399. 
Education,  art  and  industrial,  69. 
"  industrial,    in     France, 

68. 
Education  and  production,  68. 
England,  art  industries  in,  69-72. 
' '         helped  by  American  tariff, 

232,  242. 
Equipment  of  labor  and  wages,  102. 
Evolution,  industrial,  58-64. 
Exports  in  cotton  goods,  248,  378. 
Exporters  handicapped,   282,   242, 

376-378. 

Finishing  of  dry  goods,  249,  250. 
Flanders    and  France,    agriculture 

contrasted  in,  133. 
Flax  raising,  why  futile  in  America, 

258-261. 
Floating  labor  no  pressure  on  wages, 

28. 


Food  and  wages,  108. 

Foreign  labor  and  wages,  29,  30. 
trade,  248.  250,  375,  376. 

France,  art  and  industrial   educa- 
tion in,  68. 

Freedom  and  oppression,  results  in 
agriculture,  118-133. 

Free  raw  material,  5. 

Fuel  saving  in  iron-making,  92. 
"     saving  in  steamships,   results 
of,  105. 

German  workingraen,  living  of,  167- 

171. 
Germany,  house-industries   of,  50- 

53.  156. 
Germany,  backwardness    and    low 

wages,  64-66. 
Glass  manufacturing,  194-207. 

Hand  looms,  50-57,  157. 

High  wages,  benefit  of,  to  industries, 

61-64. 
High  wages,  general  effect  of,  173, 

374. 
Holland's  early  freedom,  effect  of, 

119-122. 
Home  manufactures  supplemented 

by  foreign  imports,  389. 
Hosiery,  cost  of  production  of,  255- 

257. 
Hours  and  product,  392-397. 
House  industries,  50-55,  156. 

Ignorance  and  poverty,  109. 

"         working  classes  kept  in, 

67. 
Imitating  American  methods,  232. 
Improvements    in    machinery  and 

methods,  24,  36,  37. 
Industrial  art  in  Europe,  68-80. 


INDEX. 


411 


Industrial  and  art  education  defi- 
cient in  America,  84. 

Industnal  art  museums,  74-80. 

"         decline    in    wool   manu- 
facturing, 308,  309,  321. 

Industrial  differences,  12, 55, 56, 389. 

Industries  not  helped  by  high  tariff 
duties,  232,  238,  248,  254,  257, 
263,  267,  285,  293. 

Inefficiency  and  high  tariffs,  184. 

Ingrain  carpets,  comparative  cost 
of,  348. 

Ireland,  industries  of,  41-47. 

Iron  prices,  96,  217. 

Japanese  art,  71. 

Kitchen  gardening,  149. 

Knit  goods,  duties  on,  344. 
•'       "       comparative  cost  of  la- 
bor, 345,  346. 

Labor,  comparative  cost  of,  25, 192, 

196,  209,  211,  214,  215,  216.  217, 

218,  226,  227,  237,  240,  241,  276. 

277,  279,  280,  315,  317,  318,  330- 

340,  348,  353-356,  372,  374,  387. 
Labor,  cost  of.  20-27,  387. 

"       and  nutrition,  392. 

"       productiveness  of,  20-22,  39. 
saving,  107,  186. 

'«       and  the  tariff,  18. 
Laveleye  E.  de,  agriculture  in  Lom- 

bardy,  128. 
Lavergne  L.  de,  land  in  England 

and  in  France,  110. 
Leading  articles,  comparative  cost 

of  labor  in,  387. 
Legislative  ignorance  in  the  tariff, 

11. 
Linen,  failure  to  manufacture,  263. 
Loading  of  silks,  the,  273. 


Lombardy,    early    institutions   of, 
cause  of  progress,  126-129. 

Lombardy,  irrigation,  126-129. 

"  superior  agriculture,  rise 

in,  126-130. 

Low  standard  of  living,  52-395. 

Long  hours,  detrimental  effect  of, 
392-397. 

Machinery,  93-100,  229. 
Manufacturers'  demand  for    tariff 

reform,  5. 
Manuring,  112,  113. 
Master-craftsmen,  75. 
McKinley  tariff  opposed  to  Indus- 

trial  progress,  12. 
Metallurgic  progress,  92-98. 
Metal  industries,  injurious  effect  of 

tariff  on,  222. 
Metal  manufactures,  exports  of,  232. 
Method  of  inquiry,  310,  318. 
Methods,  persistence  of,  55-66. 
Monopolies    and    tariffs,    202-206, 

220,  325. 

Nail  making  in  England  and  in 
America,  225,  226. 

Ore  mining,  comparative  labor  cost 

of  iron,  214. 
Ownership  of  land  by  cultivator, 

118-133. 

Peasant  industries,  40-48. 
Pig-iron  making,  comparative  cost 

of  labor  in,  216. 
Pile-fabrics,  duties  on,  344. 
Pin-making,    illustrating    progress 

by  methods  in,  99. 
Plate-glass,  expansion  of  industry, 

206. 


412 


INDEX. 


Ploughs,  reduction  in  America,  97. 
Plush  and  velvet  industiy  in  silk, 

284-291. 
Plush  and  velvet,  excessive  rates  of 

duties,  285.  290. 
Poland,  cause  of  downfall  of,  118. 
"       primitive    agriculture    of, 

116-118. 
Poverty  and  home-market,  44,  46. 

"       and  ignorance,  109. 
Pottery  in  America  and  in  England, 

175-193. 
Pottery,  labor-saving  appliances  in, 

186. 
Prices  of  commodities,  155, 159-173. 
Price  reductions  and  science,  87- 

102. 
Price  relations  in  pottery,  182. 
Print  cloth,  labor  cost,  comparison 

in,  240,  241. 
Print    cloth,    manufacturing    cost, 

comparison  in,  245. 
Print  cloth,  profits,  245. 
Producers,  relative  positions  of,  to 

tariffs,  4. 
Product  and  raw  material,  13. 
Product,   increasing,  of  soil,  147- 

152. 
Production,    comparative   cost    of, 

25,  192,   209,  211,  214,  215,  216, 

217,  218,  226,  227,  2:57,  240,  241, 

276,  277,  279,  280,  315,  318,  330- 

340,  348,  353,  356,  374. 
Productiveness  of  labor  depending 

on  wages,  39. 
Product,    the  net,    progressive  in- 
crease of,  139-150. 
Profitableness  of  high  farming,  139- 

150. 
Progress  and  prosperity,  the  causes 

of,  401-405. 


Progress  measured  by  consumption, 

160-171. 
Protection  by  distance,  360-362, 
"         claims  exaggerated,  177- 

190. 
Pulp  and  paper  making,  economies 

in,  89. 

Raw  material,  9,  13-16. 

"        "         differences  in,  13-17. 
Ready-made     clothing    industries, 

355-369. 
Reciprocity  treaties,  why  illusory, 

379-382. 
Republican  methods  of  controver- 
sion, 243,  244. 
Ricardo,    David,  theory  on  wages, 

19. 
Rise  in   wages  and  declining  cost, 

31-34,  64-66. 
Russia,    primitive    agriculture    of, 

114-116. 

Scarcity  removed  by  science,  135- 

137. 
Science  and  agriculture,  134-152. 
Science  and  prices,  87-102,  280. 
Science  in  production,  85,  269, 
Sectionalism  in  the  tariff,  223. 
Selling  values  in  pottery  compared, 

18:^,  189. 
Senatorial  pettifogging,  244. 
Sheep  raising  and  agriculture,  298- 

301. 
Shoddy    and    wool    cheviots,    com- 
parison   of    manufacturing  cost, 

340. 
Shoddy    and    wool    substitutes   in 

American  woolen  industry,  307- 

809. 
Shrinkage  of  wools,  808-306,  318. 


INDEX. 


413 


Silk,  comparison  of  manufacturing 

cost,  280. 
Silk,  dyeing,  277. 

"    industry,  the,  269-290. 

"    throwing,  275,  276. 

"    domestic  industry,  50-55. 

"     weaving,  50-55,  278,  279. 
Sizing  of  cotton,  241,  248,  357. 
Skill  in  industry,  83. 
Skill  and  wages,  27. 
Spare  culture,  148. 
Specific  duties,  4. 
Spinning,  36,  238. 
Standard  of  living  compared,  154- 

165. 
Statistical  vagaries  criticised,  311- 

314. 
Steamship  building,  106,  107. 

''         the,      as      a      scientific 

achievement,  103-105. 
Steel  rails,  comparison  of   cost   of 

labor  in,  218,  219. 
Steel  rails,  profit  in,  220,  281. 

"  reduction     of    cost    in, 

93,  94. 
Stoneware,     brown,      comparative 

rates  of  wages  in,  192. 
Survival   of  obsolete  methods,  29, 

224,  226. 
Sweating  system,  the,  363-368. 

Tariff,  the  democratic  policy,  5. 

' '       differences  in  European  and 

American  protective,  8. 
Tariff  rates,  increase  of,  in  cotton 

embroidery,    handkerchiefs,  and 

lace,  267. 
Tariff    rates,    increase    in    cotton 

hosiery,  257. 
Tariff    rates,    increase    in    cotton 

velvet,  251. 


Tariff  rates,   increase  in  glass  and 

glassware,  195. 
Tariff    rates,    increase    in    Italian 

cloth     and     cotton     warp    dress 

goods,  323-326. 
Tariff  rates,  increase  in  knit  fab- 
rics, 346. 
Tariff  rates,  increase  in  linen,  262. 
Tariff  rates,    increase   of,    in   pile 

fabrics,  344. 
Tariff  rates,  increase  of,  in  pottery, 

181. 
Tariff  rates,    increase    of,    in    silk 

plush  and  velvet,  284,  285. 
Tariff  rates,  increase  of,  in  woolens 

and  worsteds,  323-326. 
Tariff,  preventive  of  exports,  378. 

"     to  prevent  revenue,  382. 
Taste  and  value,  70-74,  346. 
Technical  education,  82,  83,  249. 
Textile  industries,  the,  234. 
Tin  plate  industry,  the,  233. 
Tool  machinery,  224,  229-232. 
Training,  83. 
Trenton      pottery     manufacturers, 

179-190. 
Truck  farming,  137-146. 
Truck  stores  in  the  Pennsylvania 

coal  regions,  211. 
Trusts  and  the  tariff,  202,  205.  206, 

213,  220. 

Wages  and  consumption,  6, 158-178. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  coal 
mining,  5^5,  209,  211. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  coke- 
making,  215. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  glass 
ware,  196-200. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  in- 
grain carpets,  348. 


414 


INDEX. 


Wages,    comparative    rate    of,    in 
ladies'  button  boots,  374. 

Wages,    comparative    rate    of,    in 
nails,  spikes,  rivets,  226,  2'27. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  ore 
mining,  214. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  pig- 
iron  making,  216,  217. 

Wages,    comparative    rate    of,    in 
print  cloth,  237,  240. 

Wages,    comparative    rate    of,    in 
sheetings,  241. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  silk 
manufacturing,  276,  277,  279. 

Wages,  comparative  rate  of,  in  steel 
rails,  218. 

Wages,    comparative    rate    of,    in 
woolens,  330-340. 

Wages,     comparative    rate    of,    in 
worsted  coatings,  315-318. 

Wages  and  efficiency,  26,  27. 

Wage  earners  and  the  tariff,  9. 

Wages,  cause  of  high,  31,  34. 

"      highest  in  unprotected   in- 
dustries, 10. 


Wages,  low,  an  industrial  detriment, 
35. 

Wages,  high,  result  in  low  cost  of 
production,  32,  34,  215. 

Wage  theory,  18. 

War  tariff,  the,  3. 

Wool,  different  kinds  of,  15,  16. 

Wool  duty,  the,  4.  295. 

Woolens,  comparative  cost,  posi- 
tions of,  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica, 353-356. 

Wool  duty  and  manufacture,  302- 
304,  332. 

Wool  prices,  295,  297. 

Wool  supply,  298. 

Wool  and  woolens,  304-355. 

Worsteds,  comparative  manufac- 
turing cost  of,  315-317. 

Young,  Arthur,  Flanders  and 
France,  131. 

Young,  Arthur,  Lombardy,  127. 
"        "  workingmen's  posi- 

tion in  England  and  France,  153, 
154. 


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53 — The  Tariff  and  its  Evils  ;  or,  Protection  which  does  not  Protect. 

By  John  H.  Allen.     Octavo,  cloth i  00 

54 — Relation  of  the  Tariff  to  Wages.   By  David  A.  Wells     Octavo, 

paper    ...........         25 

55 — True  or  False  Finance.     The  Issue  of  1888.     By  A  Tax-payer. 

Octavo,  paper        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         25 

66 — Outlines  of  a  New  Science.      By  E.  J.  Donnell.     Octavo,  cloth. 

I  00 
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Octavo,  cloth I  2S 

58 — Politics  as  a  Duty  and  as  a  Career.      By   Moorfield   Story. 

Octavo,  paper       .........         25 

59— Monopolies  and  the  People.  By  Chas.  W.  Baker.  8vo.,  cloth,  i  25 
60— The    Public  Regulation    of   Railways.      By   W,    D.   DabneYj 

formerly  Chairman  of    the  Committee   on  Railways  and  Internal' 

Navigation  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia.     Octavo       .         .    'i  25 


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61 — Railway  Secrecy  and  Trusts.  Its  Relation  to  Interstate  Legis- 
lation.    By  John  M.  Bonham.     Octavo       .         .         .         .100 

62 — American  Farms  :  Their  Condition  and  Future.  By  J.  R.  Elliott. 
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the  Day.  An  Essay.  By  Edward  J.  Shriver,  Secretary  N.  Y. 
Metal  Exchange.     Octavo,  paper  .....         25 

64 — The  Question  of  Ships.  Comprising  The  Decay  of  Our  Ocean 
Mercantile  Marine  :  Its  Cause  and  its  Cure.  By  David  A. 
Wells  ;  and  Shipping  Subsidies  and  Bounties.  By  John 
CoDMAX 25 

65 — A  Tariff  Primer.  The  Eflfects  of  Protection  upon  the  Farmer  and 
Laborer.     By  PoRTER  SHERMAN,  M.A 25 

66 — The  Death  Penalty.  A  Consideration  of  the  Objections  to  Capital 
Punishment,  with  a  Chapter  on  War.     By  Andrew  J.  Palm     i  25 

67 — Parties  and  Patronage.  An  Essay.  By  Lyon  G.  Tyler,  Presi- 
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68 — The  Question  of  Copyright.  Compiled  by  George  Haven  Putnam. 
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69 — Money,  Silver,  and  Finance  By  J.  Howard  Cowperthwait,  i  25 

70 — The  Question  of  Silver.     By  Louis  R.Ehrich. 

71 — Who  Pays  Your  Taxes?  A  Consideration  of  the  Question  of 
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72 — Economy  in  High  Wages.     By  J.  Schoenhof  .         .     i  25 

73 — The  Farmers'  Tariff  Manual.     By  D.  Strange;  a  Farmer,     i  25 
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